Vanessa, our stellar new intern, got thrown in at the deep end on her first day of her internship recently when she joined us in travelling up north for our seasonal sourcing trip, getting some insider knowledge on just how and where we do our sustainable sourcing for each season.
My first day as an Antiform intern saw me embarking on a sourcing trip with Lizzie and Kate from Bristol to Leeds. Birmingham being the furthest up North I had ever been I was excited to venture further! With knowing that all of the materials and workmanship involved in the production of Antiform clothing is sourced within the UK I was intrigued to take part and experience a process which many brands do not traditionally follow. The journey took around four hours including some great conversation, motorway sightseeing and light nibbling! The trip was going to be carried out over two days and a schedule of what order we were going to do things was discussed on the way, who and where we would visit first to last and tips on what to look out for!
My role throughout the trip was to capture the journey of discovery and hard work that creates the foundation of a new collection. A lot of looking, rummaging and fabric stretching go into finding the best quality fabrics.
A lot of history lies within each sourcing stop and history is exactly what surrounds the newly refurbished Sunny Bank Mills. Situated in Farsley our main attraction was to visit the renowned scrap store – a magical den featuring absolutely everything and anything imaginable at great prices!
Taking a pit stop in a cafe at Sunny Bank Mills, we discussed our current findings and what we should continue looking for, before finishing the first day of our trip looking at rolls of printed designs. This is a process I have never seen before, rolls and rolls of printed paper waiting to be purchased and printed on to fabric! As my fashion background lies within fashion promotion and imaging this whole process proved to be very interesting.
Day two of the sourcing trip was spent meeting up with key contributors, not only to the brand but to the industry. Mr. J, a strong minded individual who knew his craft well, took time and care to point out what was new, specially pulling fabrics that had not made it out of his car yet for the purposes of helping our sourcing trip!
Our final stop of our trip was meeting Harry. It’s extremely refreshing to see such passion from individuals such as Harry and Mr J about the fabrics they source and supply. These individuals have been part of the industry for years, have many stories and absolutely ooze textile royalty!
We sourced a range of fabrics to contribute to the new collection, spoke to some very amazing people and stuck to the brand’s original ethics every step of the way. We can’t wait to show you what they get turned into for the new collection – not just made in the UK, but sourced here too!
~Vanessa
