What's the future of your wardrobe? Design Museum announces new sustainable fashion display

The Design Museum has announced a new display focusing on sustainable fashion. Opening in September to coincide with London Fashion Week the second floor of the museum will host “Tomorrow’s Wardrobe” which will showcase the ground breaking work of designers including Stella McCartney, Priya Ahluwalia, Phoebe English and gorpcore cult-favourite Salomon. 

Phoebe English (Phoebe English)

The free exhibition comes at a crucial time for the fashion industry which is estimated to be responsible for 10 per cent of global carbon emissions. In spite of this and somewhat depressingly, garment production has doubled since the year 2000 and is expected to increase by another sixty per cent by 2030. In order to try and alleviate some of this bleak reading, there is an onus on designers to reassess supply chains which attribute to an estimated eighty per cent of product’s environmental impact created at the design stage. 

In its Future Observatory space, the Design Museum will be elaborating on the possibilities for shaping more responsible processes in the industry. In this vein, it will showcase the work of textile disrupter Ponda (which has collaborated with Stella McCartney) which has developed a regenerative fiber created from wetlands plants -used to make puffer jackets of all things. 

The museum has also permanently acquired an upcycled piece from Ahluwalia, a star of the London Fashion Week scene. The polo top was created from donations of old sports tops sourced via the designer’s community, through its award winning Circulate programme. It’s a clever, rewarding circular process - those who donate to the designer receive credits towards a new purchase. 

The Ahluwalia top acquired by the Design Museum (Ahluwalia)

Of its acquisition, George Kafka, curator of Tomorrow’s Wardrobe offers that the piece signals  “a moment in which designers – and particularly fashion designers – are centring environmental considerations in their work. With its repurposed fabrics from vintage sportswear, the shirt makes these considerations visible in ways that are both sustainable and stylish. Priya Ahluwalia is part of a wave of designers and researchers who give us significant cause for hope in spite of the major environmental challenges both faced and caused by the fashion industry in the UK. From studios such as Ahluwalia giving upcycling the catwalk treatment, to sheep farmers and 3D printers, the Future Observatory team at the Design Museum is pleased to be shining a light on the timely work being done to design a better future for fashion.”

Riveting, and hopefully some serious food for fashion thought.