Established in 2007 by Lizzie Harrison, Antiform produces a line of women’s upcycled clothing. Run by a team of local designers, researchers and communicators, the community of creatives, produce fashion clothing from local, high end, unwanted materials. The combined knowledge and wealth of experience in sustainable fashion design, textile upcycling and local fashion systems, powers a plethora of undertakings over and above the collection, including performing lectures, installations, curatorial projects, research, consultancy and freelance work. Their partner organization ReMade in Leeds runs upcycling events, clothing swaps and recycled fashion courses and workshops.
Tired of the homogeny of fast fashion, Antiform prefers the material connection from maker to wearer they engender through their designs. The women’s collection incorporates a quirky, retro sensibility, and twisted 1970’s and 80’s aesthetic, sporting draped tops, tailored blouses, wrapped cropped pants and pleated skirts. The eclectic range of tonalities, textures and materials are a reflection of their unique material source, as well as they’re off kilter aesthetic. With a sophisticated eye for color combination, the line features tight and balanced color stories that vary from tonal to graphic.
Fully invested in the slow fashion model, Antiform are reinvesting fashion with meaning. Sourcing and production is all done within a twenty-mile radius, through long-term partnerships with suppliers and producers. The collection is developed over time, building on existing styles, and repeating popular items, although always in new materials. Each design is absolutely unique, and Antiform revel in the diversity this restriction engenders.
The Antiform blog features postings that reconnect wearer to process, through explanatory videos and slideshows. With a series of how to postings, the team shares the production methodology with their readers and customers. Also posting neat little upcycling, refashioning and how to tips, that encompass how to make earrings from fabric scraps, to showcasing their latest range of screen-printed T-shirts.
The collection is stocked by renowned London retailer Here Today Here Tomorrow, as well as through a range of bricks and mortar and online retailers across the UK.
Website: www.antiformonline.co.uk
