Phoebe English
Sustainable circular fashion studio
Phoebe English is an award-winning SUSTAINABLE circular fashion studio.
The Phoebe English Studio was founded in 2011 and designs clothing with our planetary boundaries in mind. In the decade since Phoebe established the studio, the brand has developed into an internationally renowned label. The studio is in an ongoing transition towards sustainable circular design within a slow fashion context.
The PHOEBE ENGLISH studio has dual roots in textile craftsmanship and reduced environmental impact: aiming to develop ways of working with design, and its surrounding systems, that align within the realities of our planetary limitations. A personal narrative runs throughout the work within the studio's established aesthetics of both the decorative and the utilitarian.
Phoebe attended Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London for her BA and MA in Fashion Design with Knitwear, completing the acclaimed MA under the tuition of Louise Wilson, where her practice evolved to focus on constructed textiles. Upon graduation she was awarded the L'Oreal Professional Prize.
The PHOEBE ENGLISH studio has shown at London Fashion Week since 2011 and has received the following accolades: The Marie Claire Sustainability Award for Best Sustainable Designer Brand (2022), The Fashion Awards Leader of Change for Environment Honouree at The Fashion Awards (2021), Beazley Design of the Year (Design Museum, 2020), The Fashion Awards Community Honouree for co-founding the Emergency Designer Network (2020).
The studio’s work now sits in the national archives of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Collection in New York, the V&A fashion collection in London and the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh. We have been featured in exhibitions around the world: Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion at The Met, New York; Waste Age: What Can Waste Do? at the Design Museum, London; Homo Faber: Crafting a More Human Future, Venice, curated by Judith Clark. In 2017, the studio's archive was the subject of a day-long live event as part of the V&A Fashion in Motion series.
What is so amazing about working with British wool? Being able to stand on the soil of where our fibres come from is extremely rare when purchasing garments in todays fashion climate. By collaborating with the likes of HD wool and South East England Fibreshed we have been able to utilise British wool and are able to introduce traceability into our products.
The Woolkeepers® from HD wool whose program sources the right types of British wool for apparel insulation, ensures a local supply while also promoting responsible farming practices, animal welfare, and fair pricing for farmers. This not only helps to reduce waste but also supports the growth and development of rural economies. They use what is on our doorstep, without having to deplete oil reserves or create excess waste.
If any/ what have been your challenges with working with British wool/ natural dyes and a local way of working? Natural dyeing processes can have an unpredictable nature and ability to colour match from sample to sample, although this could be considered part of the beauty of it. We like to do lots of thorough tests on various different fibres to understand what we’re working with and see the viability of scaling dyeing processes for production.
In terms of working with British wool we have struggled to find places that will process regional wool and offer traceability to the original sheep.
Do you finish onsite? If not is it convenient or what would be your ideal situation? We sometimes work in-house at our studio or partner with other British-based seamstresses and knitters.
Do you find a lot of push back in the industry in terms of British wool and natural dyes? It can be hard to upscale to large quantities, but we believe there is beauty in the small discrepancies between each piece as it makes them individual and unique. Also consumers find it hard to perceive the value of naturally dyed goods as one is used to buying chemically dyed goods and doesn’t necessarily understand all of the labour that goes into natural dye processes.
Do you find that customers are becoming more interested in British wool? Yes, whenever we use British wool we tend to have higher engagement with our brand. People want to understand where their clothes come from, which brings us hope that the desire for seeking more sustainable and circular approaches to consuming is growing.
On a scale of 1- 10 (1 being the lowest and 10 excellent) how much do you think your business has improved in the below areas as a result of good working practices and environmental standards?
Waste Production - 10 (off-cuts, production)
Plastic Pollution - 10 (packaging)
Water Waste - 6 (dyeing and finishing)
Energy Consumption - 8 (shipping, machinery etc)
Do you have any hero farmers or people in your supply chain you would like to highlight? Yes, the Woolkeepers at HD Wool, Deborah Barker from South East England Fibreshed and Gala at Plawhatch Farm.