Bethany Williams carved her name as one of the pioneers of the sustainable fashion industry. The collection has garnered praise and her collections are available in stockists worldwide, including top-tier stockists such as Dune in Tokyo, Odd92 in New York and Galeries Lafayette in Paris.
The extent to which Williams supports others with her work is practically unheard of. Not many know that the fabric was taken from book waste from Hachette publishing in the UK, break it down and made into recycled fabric for her outer clothing.
She then brought this waste to the drug rehabilitation community of San Patrignano in Italy, where a group of women spent weeks waving the waste into cloth by handmade methods. The cloth is then waxed to make it waterproof before packing and sent to another place for the next process.
Bethany Williams and Her Concern for Others
“I think I want to make work that is meaningful and can help people. I like to take things that have been ignored and make them beautiful with my hands.” Williams initially did not want to enter the fashion industry because of the use of recycled materials, but her love for textiles was inherited from her mother who cut patterns. In addition, her final year project on campus for men’s clothing at the London College of Fashion (LCF), which involved her working with the New Life charity shop in Walthamstow, east London, ultimately put her on track at the moment.
In addition to working with the community in San Patrignano, Williams has jewelry made by people in the Manx workshop for Disabled People, on the Isle of Man who helps people with physical or mental disabilities to work. The fabric of her shirt was made by female prisoners at the HMP Downview in Sutton which was part of the Making for Change initiative from LCF.
The denim material is used clothing from a responsible recycling company, Chris Carey’s Collections, and sent to Tottenham, north London for reprocessing. All yarns come from organic textile producers Green Fibers and their buttons are handmade from birch branches by a woman in the Lake District who plants her own trees in a sustainable manner.
The amount of time spent on each item takes a longer time, for example, one of the jackets takes two weeks and that is reflected in the price. At a price of £ 750 to £ 4,500 is not cheap clothes.
For her first collection, named Breadline, Williams collaborated with Tesco to overcome the problem of hunger in the UK, she donated 30% of the profits to the Vauxhall Food Bank in south London.
Bethany Williams is the Second Designer to Get an Award
She said that as a designer who thinks for the future, this is the problem of solving all the problems facing our generation, from this planet to humans. If we don’t do this then who will do that.
Her efforts were finally got results, she will be the second winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design, following in the footsteps of Richard Quinn and will be honored at the London Fashion Week show by the Duchess of Cornwall on behalf of her Majesty the Queen.
In a statement from the British Fashion Council, they said that Bethany Williams was chosen because she was a designer who gave good value to society and strongly sustainable practices.
