When Tech And Fashion Come Full Circle
Last week, womenswear brand Mother of Pearl announced it would be joining forces with door-to-door repair and tailoring app SOJO, as part of the brands ongoing commitment to circularity. Creative Director Amy Powney has spent the last five years unstitching the seams of her supply chain to ensure Mother of Pearl is as sustainable, responsible and transparent as possible. This innovative foresight culminated in her being the subject of the documentary Fashion Reimagined earlier this year. Now her brand is turning its focus on what happens to garments once they are produced and purchased, in a bid to ensure Mother of Pearl garments remain much-loved wardrobe pieces, by teaming up with SOJO.
On the collaboration Amy Powney said:
“SOJO is the brilliant clothing alterations and repair platform that is built on the belief that a sustainable fashion future is possible. I am so excited to partner with them and work with the incredible Josephine Phillips, to help reshape the wardrobes of our Pearly Queens. This partnership is part of our ongoing commitment at Mother of Pearl to offer our customers the best level of service and to create a more circular economy for the brand, keeping items out of landfill and ensuring they are loved for longer.’
Ultimately what we are talking about here is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), a built-in strategy aimed at ensuring that brands take responsibility for the entire lifecycle of their products. In terms of fashion policy, the United Kingdom is lagging behind, with the Netherlands now co-responsible for the management of waste from products sold. As well as the recent announcement of the French Government’s plans to pay for repairs to enable garments to have a longer life. This is something that Fashion Roundtable have flagged culminating in our Waste Strategy which was shared with DEFRA and is a piece of work that will continue to be a key focus at policy level.
With this lag from UK policy and as champions of craftsmanship, it is no surprise that Mother of Pearl has taken this direction and the collaboration with London-based fashion-tech platform SOJO, allows for emissions-free door-to-door repair and alterations services to customers via their in-house tailoring studio – while providing an integrated and scalable solution to e-commerce fashion brands to help reduce returns and increase circularity within their businesses. The service will be offered across a selection of its items, whether they’re bought new or are already existing wardrobe pieces.
On partnering with Mother of Pearl, Josephine Phillips, Founder of SOJO says:
“This partnership with Mother of Pearl is such an exciting moment in SOJO’s journey. Amy’s continued commitment to creating beautiful garments with the lowest environmental impact is a really positive example of what the future of fashion should be - transparent, responsible, quality and circular. As two female-led businesses, I’m thrilled to bring SOJO’s fit service to Mother of Pearl’s growing community.”
OFFER
To ensure this service is seamless, the Mother of Pearl website will incorporate the attribute, “alterations'', against every garment where the service is available and will subsidise 50% of the alteration cost. Fashion Roundtable newsletter subscribers are invited to use the code FASHROUND10 to get 10% off their first order until 31st August 2023. This is for orders placed via https://www.sojo.uk/get-started or the app (available to download on App Store or Google Store). Enjoy!
