My wife, Linda Row, who has died aged 64 of acute pancreatitis, was a clothes and textile designer. We met in 1976 on the art foundation course at St Martin’s School of Art. I left for Chelsea School of Art but she stayed on to study fashion and design alongside singer Sade Adu, milliner Stephen Jones, and academic and cultural commentator Iain R Webb. From St Martin’s, Linda, known to friends as Loulou, immersed herself in the 80s underground music scene, making waves with her millinery company, with Steve Dash, Black Habit (1985-87).
After the birth of our son, Louis, in 1991, and daughter, Eve, in 1995, and living in south London, Linda founded Clothworks (1997), one of the first ethical and sustainable clothes-making labels in the UK. In 2002, we moved to a converted chapel in Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, where Linda started up Boutique Ethique (2006), which extended her ethical approach to the fashion business by using offcuts for interlinings, biodegradable fastenings and textiles coloured without the need for toxic chemicals.
