Spotlight, 2 March 2020

With the fashion industry currently producing 10% of all humanity’s carbon emissions, as well as being the second-largest consumer of the world’s water supply, the spotlight is – quite rightly –  being turned on high-street brands and high-end designers alike to get serious about sustainability.

Helping consumers do good as well as feel good this season, French Connection’s new “recycle, reuse and re-love” pieces from their Spring/Summer collection have been salvaged and turned into something new.

If you’re off on holiday, look out for their swimwear collection. It’s made from 100% recycled plastic bottles, which are flattened before being transformed into weavable yarn to create their range of swimming trunks. Likewise, they’ve worked with ECONYL®, an Italian company which uses synthetic waste (think industrial plastic, waste fabric and fishing nets from oceans) to create nylon yarn that is exactly the same quality as virgin nylon.

They’ve also used organic cotton across their T-shirt collection, helping to limit the large amounts of water and pesticides that go into traditional cotton farming techniques, while their denim jeans have been cleverly crafted using a mixture of organic cotton and recycled plastic fibres, without losing any of their signature fit and comfort.

More denim can be found in their homeware collection, where recycled jeans are enjoying a stylish new lease of life as a denim pouffe. When it comes to dining, their glassware collection is made from 100% recycled glass, which has been handmade into Champagne flutes and tumblers.

They’re also the first UK fashion retailer to incorporate unused leather off-cuts into an eco-friendly leather bag collection, helping to limit the amount of unused materials that end up in landfill. Here’s hoping others will follow suit.

Explore the collection online or in store.

140-144 King’s Road, Chelsea, London SW3 4UU, Frenchconnection.com