Philmore

The premium of scarcity manifesto

Since 2003, I have been producing sustainable, ethical women's fashion. My work features asymmetrical, quirky but fine tailoring, anachronistic styling by way of 1980's thrift and reuse culture. Some of my customers have been here for the whole journey - once you've experienced the unparalleled style and comfort it's hard to go back!

Ultra-fast-fashion is ruining our clothing and style.

Have you found lately that there's endless choice, but nothing good?
Put your top in the wash and found it disintegrated?
Tried on dozens of things and none of them fitted - or, almost worse, you had no idea what they were supposed to fit like in the first place?

That is because:

Mass production murders joy

As your fashion dad, I was here at the birth of fast fashion, and I understand the appeal - none of us want to go back to snooty brands doing things 18 months in advance! But doesn't it seem like we've reached a tipping point, with a huge conglomerate of brands producing clothing that was created by memes and thrown together in minutes?
It takes a huge amount of resources to produce physical garments -  so to make them shoddily, fitting badly, and be functionally disposable, is a horrendous waste. It's no surprise that fashion has now become arguably one of the worst pollutants in the world, second only to the likes of direct use of fossil fuels and construction.*

Reclaiming design

Philmore is about fashion design as an art. Textiles are the medium. Expression is the aim. And I do it all in the midprice range!
I have always worked on limited editions for ethical, environmental and artistic reasons. Mass production prohibits sustainability, experimentation and innovation in design.

Like many brands, post covid I have found myself needing to restructure (landlords! the vexation) and I have a vision to bring in my decades of experience under one roof to grow not only the Philmore label but to develop up-and-coming talent.

Imagine an atelier in the quirky seaside town of St Leonards/Hastings, surrounded by other independent artists. Functioning as short run manufacturing, design studio, showroom and retail space, it would nurture new talents, giving them a chance to learn industry specifics and creative techniques that have been lost from the academic route, alongside producing the Philmore range.

And then the whole cohort would be mobile! Yes, lets meet the challenges facing bricks-and-mortar store holders by making it a joy to go shopping again! Imagine walking into a boutique or event space to find new styles that you can enjoy without ethical or environmental guilt, with a mix of your favourite Philmore signatures and fresh new talents. Buy safe in the knowledge that you will love your clothing - and support British design and manufacturing in the process.

Be part of the solution

TBD. crowdfunding/gofundme/etc

*https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/news/remodelling-fast-fashion-understanding-the-need-to-accelerate-sustainability-in-the-fashion-industry-and-how-the-uk-can-respond/