LYDIA BOLTON

IS A LUXURY SUSTAINABLE BRAND THAT UPCYCLES UNWANTED TEXTILES INTO COVETABLE WOMENSWEAR.

Lydia Bolton is a sustainability creator and a slow fashion designer who founded her namesake brand in 2019. A zero-waste advocate, she works meticulously with sleeping stock, deadstock fabrics and thrifted items to create luxury but accessible womenswear apparel and homeware that doesn’t cost the earth.

With her collections consciously small, Lydia has also turned to helping brands find new ways to fight fashion waste, reduce landfill and retain relevance with the younger, eco-minded Gen Z consumer. She has collaborated with brands such as Nike, River Island, Channel 4, Manchester United and Westfield.

A core part of her work involves creating and hosting upcycling workshops to empower more people with the skills to tackle textile waste themselves. Lydia shows how, with skills and creativity, we can extend the lifetime of each garment so it becomes a treasured wardrobe staple for years to come.

Signature Lydia Bolton pieces often include colourful patchworks, playful ginghams and cuter-than-cute collars and bows. Items range from summer co-ords to blouses and sweater vests, all released in small, infrequent capsule collections that are always inspired by retro silhouettes and the materials she works with.

Lydia’s eclectic designs have become a firm favourite within her community of conscious consumers who like to express themselves through style. They have also been picked up by publications like British Vogue, The Face and Refinery29, while Lydia has been consistently touted as ‘One to Watch’ by trend forecasters, including WGSN.

With her collections consciously small, Lydia has turned her attention to helping brands reach their sustainability goals, finding new ways to fight fashion waste, reduce landfill and retain relevancy with the younger, eco-minded Gen Z consumer.

Over the past year, Lydia has been hosting upcycling workshops with her community to empower more people with the skills to tackle fashion waste themselves. Lydia shows that with the rights tools, skills and creativity, we can extend the lifetime of each garment so it becomes a treasured wardrobe staple for years to come. In 2022, she fronted two series of workshops for Nike’s flagship UK store, Nike By You and Trash Labs, where she taught members how to turn defected stock into unique items.

This sentiment is echoed across her social media, where she shares her tips and techniques for more eco-living, garnering a following of 15K+ followers.

“This emerging sustainable designer gives new life to deadstock and unwanted clothes. Tapping into the new appreciation for craft, she sells stay-at-home activity boxes and posts DIY videos on her Instagram. Driving the ‘sewcial’ trend Lydia Bolton is an influencer to watch!”

– WGSN

"I set up my brand to help provide a solution for the vast amount of waste clothing and textiles. The goal of the brand is to reuse materials by redesigning and upcycling them into new garments so that their resources are not wasted. After working in fashion for a number of  years, I became increasingly aware of how unsustainable the fashion industry was and wanted to combine my personal love of vintage and sustainable living with my professional career.

After extending my knowledge by studying at the CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE FASHION, I learnt in depth about the vast amount of garments and textiles sent to landfill each year. I based my decisions around my commitment to reuse materials rather than sourcing new; for example, my packaging is created from recycled paper, the tissue paper used to wrap each item is recycled and recyclable and I brand items with a reusable stamp. For each item I make, there is a slow process of unpicking the original item, carefully cutting out the new garment to best use the material and re-stitching it back together. I believe this labour intensive method, puts a sense of craft back into the process. It’s a modern approach to traditional techniques and shows value to the unwanted materials.”

— Lydia Bolton