We’re so excited to share that GFW19 Shein People’s Choice Award winner Mariah Esa has just launched a capsule collection with Browns! The De Montfort University graduate’s collection that won over the public was made from repurposed labels thrown away in the fast fashion industry. Esa sourced labels that were either over produced or classed as rejects in the fast fashion industry and transformed them into a base fabric by attaching them together.
Mariah’s collection backstage at GFW19
Mariah at GFW Presents during LFW
From her experience working in a manufacturer, Mariah was open to the amount of waste fabric and labels that were being thrown away and she found that garment labels were one of the main items being disposed of for slight faults. Sourcing labels which were either over produced or classed as rejects in the fast fashion industry, Mariah repurposed these waste garment labels and upcycled them to create the base fabric of her award-winning graduate collection.
Mariah’s four piece capsule for Browns includes two skirts, a jacket and a coat all created using over 20,000 waste garment labels saved from the fast fashion industry. Mariah’s signature style is instantly recognisable, with rich textures and experimental silhouettes. She is also tapping into a new found industry-wide appreciation for upcycling, with sustainability at the forefront of concerns in the fashion industry.
Since GFW, Mariah has showcased her designs at the GFW Presents showroom during London Fashion Week in February this year, as well as being featured in the GFF X UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s GREAT Britain Campaign in December 2019. In March this year, Esa was invited to take part in the size? 20 year anniversary “Past, Present & Future” exhibition as part of a handpicked group of future tastemakers which are on the Size? radar.
Congratulations Mariah, we can’t wait to see what you do next!