The clickety-clack of a locked Lime bike in use has become an established part of the soundscape of most London boroughs, alongside the usual cacophony of sirens, shouting and the screeching of tires.
The noise indicates that a bike is technically being joy-ridden without payment - often by cheeky school kids - but it’s emblematic of a fairly nice advancement in London living: Lime bikes are everywhere. And while they may occasionally prove to be a bit of a nuisance if left on the pavement or at the bottom of a canal, more people cycling around this city cannot be a bad thing.
In fact, they’ve even become sort of… cool? East Londoners who opt for Lime bike travel are a typical target of the Hackney-based meme page @real_housewives_of_clapton, which charts the habits of trendy East Londoners. And if you walk past Columbia Road on a Sunday afternoon, you’ll likely see well-dressed Londoners breezing around on their Lime bikes, with some hydrangeas or a loaf of sourdough tucked neatly in the basket. So chic, so sustainable.
Sights like this were the inspiration for 29-year-old fashion designer Lydia Bolton’s new collaboration with Lime, which is made entirely from upcycled, deadstock materials. The fabrics, sourced from the warehouse of charity shop TRAID, were carefully sewn together by Bolton, who was taught to sew by her mother when she was 13.
“I’ve wanted to be a fashion designer for as long as I can remember,” Bolton says. “But after working in fashion for a few years, I decided I wanted my career in fashion to reflect my personal values of living in a sustainable, eco-conscious way. There’s this quote: ‘As a designer, you have a responsibility,’ and I really felt that.”
Bolton’s Lime collection is replete with functional items fit for cycling: zip-off coats, reflective hi-vis vests, trousers that can be clipped in at the hem so they won’t get stuck in your bike spokes, but they’re far from the items you’d expect to see on a MAMIL (middle-aged man in lycra). “We wanted to create a collection that really helps people on their cycle ride, getting from A to B, but which they still want to wear afterwards,” Bolton says, “it’s transitional.”
The pieces echo the recent trend for reworking old items from Dickies and Carhartt with a patchwork of different colourways, though Bolton’s are, of course, primarily lime-coloured. “We went to the warehouse and sourced all the different pieces, and then it’s a slow process - everything is washed, dried, unpicked,” explains Bolton, who likes to have the original garment “inform the next design”. This means removing original pockets or zips and forging them into something new, like a Frankenstein of fabrics.
The functionality of the collection is perfect for trend-conscious East Londoners who already ride Lime bikes, often seen resplendent in their workwear and activewear garms (Carhartt, Arc’teryx, North Face, Service Works) even if they’re actually working a nine-to-five office job and only traverse the harsh terrain of London pavements. It brings to mind a picture that did the rounds on Instagram a few weeks ago of a man who used the loop of fabric on the side of his Carhartt jeans (traditionally meant for holding a hammer) to hold a glass of red wine.
It’s not the first time a transportation brand has made its way into the fashion world: package delivery service DHL had a brief but firm hold over the high fashion community after a collaboration with Vetements in 2016 (a DHL slogan t-shirt cost £185), Deliveroo jackets were once an in-demand item for the fashion set and Royal Mail even had an Off-White moment.
For Lydia Bolton, though, the aim is just to get more people on those Lime bikes. And yes, they get bonus points if they’re wearing her collection.
