- Designed by six fashion graduates taking part in The Modern Artisan training program offered by NET-A-PORTER and The King’s Foundation, the ready-to-wear collection was inspired by nature and Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s watercolors of the Scottish Highlands.
- The collection has been hand-crafted at The King’s Foundation’s Dumfries House headquarters in Ayrshire, Scotland, in specialist textiles workshops.
- It prioritizes the use of naturally dyed fabrics and locally sourced British wool, including from the herd at Dumfries House.
- YOOX NET-A-PORTER has partnered with Fashion Roundtable to use its learnings from The Modern Artisan to launch a new mapping tool promoting the use of British wool.
LONDON, UK (SEPTEMBER 2, 2024) – NET-A-PORTER and The King’s Foundation announce the launch of a ready-to-wear luxury capsule collection, inspired by the tranquility of nature and hand-crafted by trainee artisans at the Foundation’s headquarters, Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Scotland. The 13-piece collection, NET-A-PORTER for The King’s Foundation, includes bias-cut slip dresses, elevated loungewear and textural knitwear, emphasizing the use of responsible materials and techniques. Available exclusively on NET-A-PORTER, 50% of the RRP from products sold will be donated to The King’s Foundation to support its innovative training programs which benefit more than 15,000 people every year.
The collection launch is the result of the third edition of the pioneering talent program for emerging fashion and textiles trainees, The Modern Artisan, run in partnership between YOOX NET-A-PORTER and The King’s Foundation. Since 2019, the collaboration has sought to preserve the legacy of traditional craftsmanship and champion a more sustainable approach to luxury fashion. This year, six fashion and textiles graduates undertook a nine-month paid training program through the end-to-end process of designing and handcrafting a luxury collection, partnering with the private label design team at YOOX NET-PORTER at their headquarters in London. Through a six-month residency at Dumfries House, the graduates refined their artisanal skills including sewing, pattern drafting and quality control. To date, The Modern Artisan program has launched the careers of 26 emerging designers and makers over the course of five years.
The resulting collection captures the beauty of the Scottish Highlands around Balmoral, as interpreted through watercolors by Her Majesty Queen Victoria and Carl Haag, held at Windsor Castle by the Royal Collection Trust. It also echoes His Majesty The King’s vision of harmony with the natural world, which underpins the work of The King’s Foundation. The colors, silhouettes, and design details represent the trainee artisans’ translation of these watercolors, in celebration of the land and the feelings of wellbeing it inspires.
“At NET-A-PORTER, investing in the next generation of designers is a mainstay commitment, and our partnership with The King’s Foundation reaches far beyond traditional mentorship. This year’s artisans have inspired us with their innovative capsule collection, merging responsible design, artisanal skills, and high-quality materials to meet our customers’ expectations for luxury fashion.”
Vikki Kavanagh, Managing Director, NET-A-PORTER and MR PORTER.
“Over the last five years, we have been so proud to see how all of our Modern Artisan graduates have gone on to use what they learnt on the course to launch flourishing careers and businesses in the fashion and textile industry. Everything we do here at The King’s Foundation is inspired by His Majesty King Charles III’s vision of harmony, promoting traditional skills and providing holistic, collaborative training for the fashion and textiles professionals of tomorrow. This program is an excellent example of what can be achieved when like-minded organizations work together to nurture new talent, and champion more sustainable ways of working. Inspired by the natural world, this year’s artisans have worked tirelessly to develop and hand-craft a unique capsule collection that will stand the test of time.”
Jacqueline Farrell, Education Director, The King’s Foundation at Dumfries House.
The collection uses traditional craftsmanship techniques such as hand smocking and hand sewing along with the development of fabric handling skills. These are combined with new technologies, with all items containing a Digital ID to tell its story and promote longevity, offering post-purchase care guidance for customers. Each piece considers our interaction with nature, prioritizing deadstock materials, British wool, and natural dyes. Working with natural dying practitioner, Kate Turnbull, the artisans harnessed the power of plants and flowers to enhance the collection’s connection to local environments. Together, they created a distinctive khaki green natural dye derived from native heathers from the Scottish Highlands, which became a mainstay for the color base, featuring in the collection’s two-piece lounge suit. The materials and techniques aimed to minimize the collection’s environmental impact, with the artisans working in partnership with environmental consultancy Carbonsink to measure its carbon footprint.
A central ambition of this year’s collection was to showcase fashion’s opportunity to revitalize locally sourced British wool, seeing the artisans collaborating with suppliers known for their commitments to more sustainable practices. The capsule includes a special oversized handknit scarf using “The King’s Clip”: a unique yarn developed for the first time from the fleeces of three flocks of sheep kept at Dumfries House, processed by The Natural Fibre Company in Cornwall into yarn, and knitted into scarves by Corgi in Wales. This marks a milestone in The King’s Foundation’s aim to reinforce the connections between field and fashion. The collection also includes two knitwear pieces made in partnership with HERD, a pioneering regenerative yarn and knitwear company, with all four of the ready-to-wear knitwear pieces developed and manufactured by Knitster in London.
As part of the project’s ambition to motivate industry change, YOOX NET-A-PORTER has supported think tank Fashion Roundtable’s development of an open-source mapping tool, creating greater transparency for designers on how to work with British wool. Launching today, the tool The Great British Wool Revival serves as a valuable resource for brands to easily find and partner with farms, mills and suppliers who are committed to reinvigorate the use of British wool in the fashion industry. It leverages insight from this year’s Modern Artisan journey, in which the artisans were guided though every step of the yarn and knitwear development process, and recognition that public resources and networks could democratize access and promote greater use of British wool in fashion.
The NET-A-PORTER for The King’s Foundation collection is available to purchase at netaporter.com, and on the NET-A-PORTER app from September 2, 2024.
