YOOX NET-A-PORTER X The King’s Foundation: The Modern Artisan
Talent Programme
The Modern Artisan: Shaping the Future of Fashion
The Modern Artisan is YOOX NET-A-PORTER’s flagship charity partnership with The King’s Foundation, a first-of-its-kind training programme for fashion graduates offering a unique opportunity to design and launch a collection on NET-A-PORTER. The programme has launched the careers of 24 emerging designers over five years, emphasising a commitment to advancing the agenda for a more sustainable approach to luxury fashion.
For the 2023/24 edition of the project, six fashion and textiles graduates followed 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 residency at Dumfries House, the headquarters of The King’s Foundation in Ayrshire, Scotland, the graduates refined their artisanal skills including sewing, pattern drafting and quality control.
A Collection Inspired by Nature
The resulting collection captures the beauty of the Scottish Highlands around Balmoral, as interpreted through watercolours 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 colours, silhouettes, and design details represent the trainee artisans’ translation of these watercolours, in celebration of the land and the feelings of wellbeing it inspires.
Putting British Wool Back in the Spotlight
Each piece of the collection considers our interaction with the natural environment from start to finish, prioritising deadstock, natural materials, British wool and natural dyes. A central ambition of the 2023/24 programme was to showcase fashion’s opportunity to revitalise British wool and to train the next generation of designers on the value of prioritising local sourcing. The artisans were guided through the process of collaborating with British wool suppliers known for their commitments to more sustainable practices. This focus on British wool reflects the longstanding work of His Majesty King Charles III to support and grow the wool industry through the Campaign for Wool.
The King’s Clip
As part of the initiative, the artisans developed a unique yarn from the fleeces of three flocks of sheep kept at Dumfries House, nicknamed “The King’s Clip”, which was woven into a special oversized scarf. To achieve this, Zoe Fletcher and Maria Benjamin, experts from The Wool Library, guided the artisans on each step on the journey, sharing invaluable advice and options in relation to scale and the corresponding price points.
Beauty in the Blend
While it would have proved more cost effective to process a large batch of wool, the artisans needed to make a small, limited collection of 50 chunky hand knit scarves using The King’s Clip. The Wool Library advised this would require around 100kg of sheep fleece but that the wool from the Lleyn, Cheviot and rare breed Castlemilk Moorit breeds found on the Estate would not be particularly soft. To achieve the desired softness, The Wool Library advised the artisans to blend the yarn with Bluefaced Leicester wool from Maria’s farm in the Lake District. They also advised that having the wool worsted spun (which combs the fibres before spinning so they are smoother) would make the finished product feel softer.
The Wool Library contacted The Natural Fibre Company to process the yarn. Although based in Cornwall, at the other end of the country to Dumfries House, The Natural Fibre Company had the capacity to scour, comb and worsted spin the yarn, and crucially were able to meet the project’s strict timeframes.
Crafted Comfort: A Focus on Luxury Knitwear
In addition to the King’s Clip scarf, the collection includes four more knitwear pieces: a cable-knit dress, a cardigan, a superfine cashmere blend jumper and cashmere blend knitted pant. These pieces were made in partnership with HERD, a pioneering regenerative yarn and knitwear company which sources fine Bluefaced Leicester fleeces directly from farmers in the North of England, and developed and manufactured by Knitster in London.
Navigating a Fragmented Industry Landscape
In the artisans’ quest to use British wool, find appropriate partners and navigate the end-to-end process, they faced a challenge that many others before have experienced: the complex and fragmented industry landscape, and a lack of open resources to help educate and guide designers. For instance, without the support of the Wool Library, it would have been challenging to find a partner to process the wool given the required quantities and timeframes.
The Great British Wool Revival Mapping Tool
With the understanding that navigating the network alone can be intimidating, YOOX NET-A-PORTER has supported Fashion Roundtable’s development of the Great British Wool Revival open-source mapping tool. The tool strives to create greater transparency for designers on how to work with British wool and build a legacy for the work initiated in this year’s Modern Artisan Project.