InCrops Project

Plywood dress on the catwalk at London Fashion Week

Stunning designs created for an InCrops sponsored fashion project featured on the catwalk at the opening day of this year’s London Fashion Week. The ‘woodchip’ garments by young designer Stefanie Nieuwenhuyse were just one of the creative outcomes of a collaborative project between InCrops Enterprise Hub and Kingston University MA Fashion students.

Fashion students from Kingston University were challenged to show how sustainable materials could be used as part of a Sustainable Luxury module sponsored by InCrops Enterprise Hub.  Stefanie’s snake-skin inspired sustainable garments were selected to feature in the Vauxhall Fashion Scout, one of the world’s leading showcases for fashion innovation.  

 Liliya Serazetdinova, Business Innovation Manager at InCrops was suitably impressed with what Stefanie had achieved. “Stefanie’s work stood out as she had combined using a very simple material, plywood, with modern laser cutting techniques to create a material that looked fabulous,” explained Liliya. “I thought the standard of work from all the Kingston students was very high, but Stefanie’s work was particularly mature. It was fascinating to see how she had married high-tech solutions with delicate handcrafting.”

InCrops plan to exhibit Stefanie’s designs, along with the work of other MA Fashion Students at a business networking event in London in November, and are keen to see what possibilities can grow from her discovery. InCrops has long been interested in collaborating with the creative industries in order to develop concepts and prototypes using natural materials in mainstream products. 

The UK's creative industries account for over 1 million jobs and brought in £112.5 billion to the UK economy. The UK fashion industry alone is valued at £1.6 Billion. InCrops is supporting businesses developing and manufacturing household goods, eco-paints, furnishings, fashion, clothing, and creative industries. Designers and product developers aim to reduce the impact on the environment through material selection, development of energy-efficient processing, customer-oriented branding and marketing, and through improved end-of-life options. InCrops is working with artists and designers who would like to integrate natural fibres, biopolymers, and natural pigments on their work practices. 

Click here for more information about the Kingston Fashion project and the designs by Stefanie Nieuwenhuyse

Click here to view the Kingston University MA Fashion show  or a video of the catwalk show