The Trampery Launch The Sustainable Fashion Accelerator at Fish Island Village
The Trampery, a London-based social enterprise was founded in 2009 with a mission to support entrepreneurs from all sections of society. Over the past 10 years it has opened workspaces all over London; introduced specialised courses for entrepreneurs working in fashion, travel and the arts; and worked with national and local governments to develop new innovation districts in London and Oslo. Their partners include The British Fashion Council, Accenture, Barbican Centre, Publicis and Expedia.
The Trampery’s latest venture, The Sustainable Fashion Accelerator (SFA), funded by the London Legacy Development Corporation, is housed at The Trampery’s impressive new building - a studio complex at Fish Island Village (FIV) - in partnership with The Peabody Trust.
“London is emerging as an epicentre for sustainable fashion innovation. The Trampery Fish Island Village will provide beautiful bespoke studios - but we wanted to do more than that. Through the Sustainable Fashion Accelerator, we will provide free business support resources centred on how to improve sustainability and promote good working standards.”
The Trampery Fish Island Village
The SFA is a bespoke support programme designed to address the underlying issues facing promising start-up fashion companies in London, with a focus on integrating sustainability into their business models. Over the next three years, the SFA’s six-month business programme will run four times, helping over thirty business.
The Sustainable Fashion Accelerator Cohort One
The Sustainable Fashion Accelerator Cohort Two
The first seven brands in studios at Fish Island Village
Sabinna
Steven Tai
Rewritten
Sabry Marouf
Petit Pli
Wright Le Chapelain, will be part of The Trampery’s Sustainable Fashion Accelerator Cohort Two
Vanessa Podmore, an independent expert in global supply chain and sustainability initiatives, and Tom Farrand, a leading mentor and coach focused on circular economy and sustainability, will lead the SFA’s programme helping designers to develop in an ethical and sustainable way. This initiative marks a new kind of approach to fashion design, production and building businesses.
“The Sustainable Fashion Accelerator is an exceptional and visionary addition to the London fashion landscape. The combination of beautiful affordable workspace, the bespoke support programme for the designer community and the focus on sustainability embedded across the whole enterprise has the potential to fundamentally change the way these businesses emerge and grow and become commercially sustainable for the long term.”
“The SFA was a game changing experience on many levels. Being a founder is very exciting but also demanding and lonely sometimes. I found the approach of the SFA very refreshing - the aim was to help your business evolve through personal growth. We were already able to incorporate some of the leadership learnings as well as improve team building within our own company. Last but not least the sessions on sustainability helped us to identify and set goals to make the company even more sustainable - a good example is our t-shirt production and distribution - we managed to make it fully circular thanks to great mentoring and advice through the SFA.”
Fish Island Village (FIV) will be London's largest campus of fashion studios. With almost two million pounds of funding from the Mayor's Good Growth Fund (an initiative designed to help local people to take an active role in the regeneration of their communities), FIV is an ambitious state of the art building that will enable fashion production onsite for many brands. The campus is a key project within Hackney Wick's Creative Enterprise Zone, and an important part of the Fashion District Initiative, a hub of ambitious businesses, academic institutions and investors in East London.
“We wanted to come to FIV, because we wanted to be part of a creative community which shared our commitment to innovative and sustainable principles. The SFA programme helped give us the confidence to start approaching the fashion business in a holistic manner, achieving fulfilment through best practices for ourselves and for the world. This is something I have never experienced with any programmes and community before. Although personally, I know we still have a long way to go, the accelerator and our new studio have given us the petri dish to start experimenting and the community with which to grow together.”
Header image Sabinna
Special thanks to Tori at The Trampery and Village PR
28.11.2019
