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Fashion – Enter Ltd Provides a Technical Residency For YOOX Net – A – Porter & The Prince’s Foundation Modern Artisans

03-11-2022   


YOOX NET-A-PORTER and The Prince’s Foundation have collaborated with a group of Italian and UK students to create The Modern Artisan with a 13-piece, luxury womenswear, capsule collection. Available exclusively on NET-A-PORTER and YOOX, 50% of the RRP will be donated to The Prince’s Foundation, to support its innovative training programmes.

The capsule collection marks the culmination of the second edition of The Modern Artisan, YOOX NET-A-PORTER’s and The Prince’s Foundation’s pioneering flagship training programme, which commenced in 2019. Building on the success of 2020’s first collection launch, this year’s YOOX NET-A-PORTER for The Prince’s Foundation capsule achieves a number of new milestones in YOOX NET-A-PORTER’s Infinity sustainability journey. It is the first collection to align 100% with the Infinity Product Guide, its sustainability and circularity design guidelines, and its first ever carbon neutral collection. 

The programme and capsule reflect the initiative’s commitment to advance sustainability in luxury fashion and preserve heritage textile skills. They also demonstrate the shared ambition of YOOX NET-A-PORTER and The Prince’s Foundation to preserve the planet for future generations. The Modern Artisan aims to position artisanship as a viable and attractive career path for upcoming generations, equipping them with the skills to help shape a more circular industry. The 10-month paid programme supports eight British and Italian graduates through the end-to-end process of designing, handcrafting, and bringing a more sustainable luxury collection to a global market. During the programme, they were given the opportunity to showcase their work to His Majesty, then The Prince of Wales, at Dumfries House.

The design is inspired by Highgrove Gardens, run by The Prince’s Foundation and renowned for sustainable and organic approaches to agriculture and horticulture. The Artisans were supported by industry experts from YOOX NET-A-PORTER, The Prince’s Foundation, and several mentoring designer brands, including Gabriela Hearst, Nanushka and Stella Jean among others. Aligning with the Infinity Product Guide required careful selection of natural and certified materials with over 50% repurposed from waste through partner supplier Maeba, and the application of circular design principles such as zero waste and data-informed design. The Artisans were given access to five years’ of YOOX NET-A-PORTER customer insights to understand long-term customer preferences and design for longevity. 

Working with the Artisans on their technical skills at our Technical Residency earlier this year

The collection was crafted by the Artisans in the Textile Training Centre at Dumfries House, headquarters of The Prince’s Foundation in East Ayrshire, Scotland, where they undertook six months of intensive training in luxury small batch production. Training focused on advanced technical production skills within sewing, pattern drafting and quality control, while also developing expertise to handle wool, cashmere, and silk to ensure garment finishes meet the luxury market standard. The Artisans also learnt about the product development process at Fashion-Enter Ltd in North London with advice and support on pattern cutting, fit and quality construction. While the luxury knitwear pieces were the only styles to be produced off-site by UK-based suppliers Johnstons of Elgin and Corgi. 

Jacqueline Farrell, Education Director, The Prince’s Foundation at Dumfries House commented: “We hope that consumers value fashion differently with a greater understanding of the skill and expertise involved at every stage of the production. Seeing the artisans develop their skills over the course of The Modern Artisan has been a source of pride for everyone involved, and we can’t wait to see the impact they all make in the industry as they enter the next stage of their career.” 

Alison Loehnis, Interim CEO, YOOX NET-A-PORTER said:“We have been blown away by this group of next generation artisans and are delighted to bring this unique collection to NET-A-PORTER and YOOX customers around the world. With sustainability principles applied throughout the design and production process, the collection aligns with our ambition to drive a more sustainable and circular fashion system. We are grateful for The Prince’s Foundation’s partnership and commitment to protecting heritage artisanal skills that are the essence of luxury.”

Fashion-Enter Ltd CEO Jenny Holloway added: “This was a wonderful collaborative program working with new fashion artisans from Italy and the UK. Due to the expertise Fashion-Enter Ltd has on site we worked with the artisans on patterns, fit and construction and they were a pleasure to teach and train. 

The resulting collections are outstanding and a testimony to the skills of the artisans and YOOX NET-A-PORTER. We call this type of program our Technical Residency and we had a similar contract with Graduate Fashion Week and TikTok, for a deep dive into highly specialised designs that concentrates the mind and really creates embedded learning. 

Good luck with the launch of the new collection!” 

The Modern Artisans for 2022 are: 

The YOOX NET-A-PORTER for The Prince’s Foundation collection is available at NETAPORTER.com and YOOX.com, and their respective apps. 

For more information about The Modern Artisan project, please visit: www.ynap.com/pages/the-modern-artisan/ 

If you would like to join Fashion-Enter Ltd for a Technical Residency please contact: jackie@fashion-enter.com




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