Meet Natasha Solanki, a former Manchester Metropolitan university graduate who finished university in 2019. She is now working for a fashion supplier as a junior fashion designer and developer, does freelance design work on the side and is also launching her own brand! She plans to take her graduate collection and design it into a more commercial offering, while keeping sustainability in mind through every aspect of her young business. Read more about Natasha and her work below!
What is the most valuable thing you have learnt at university?
I think the most valuable thing I have learnt at university is self worth. After four years, to finally realise that yes, I can do this degree and I can do it well. I learnt not to compare myself to my peers because we are all amazing at what we do, each in our own way and that is okay. University has really given me the confidence to believe in myself and believe I can achieve anything I set my mind to.
Tell us about your current projects and work, what have you been working on?
Currently I am working at a fashion supplier as a Junior Fashion Designer/Developer. It has opened up to me a side of the industry that I now realise is very damaging to the world we live in and I am actively trying to encourage more sustainable solutions to the way we work. In addition to this, I do some freelance fashion design and this is something I would like to do more of. The most exciting project I am currently working on is the realisation of my own brand. I did a business unit on my degree where in a group we had to create a brand and product, market it and complete a full business plan and proposal. This has given me the knowledge and a little experience in creating a small business and I am very excited to be redeveloping my final collection into garments for my business, focused on slow, excellent quality fashion that doesn't go out of style.
What form does your work take?
As my brand is in the very early days, I have been researching more than being creative currently. I purchased 'The Fashion Business Manual' which is a book I cannot recommend enough for young creatives looking to start a business - it has so many infographics and breaks the information down so that it is super easy to understand. Alongside doing this research, I have been having lots of fun designing my home studio which should be completed in the next month and once that is finished I can finally start creating again which is something I have greatly missed since finishing university last summer. I can't wait to have the creative space that will allow me to reinterpret my final collection into a more commercial range and I can't wait to get people wearing my clothes!
How have you evolved as a young creative while studying / working?
I have become much more considered in my design and in what I want from my life and career in fashion. I do not care about the current trends and working in a high street retailer and now a supplier has shown me how little transparency there is within the fashion industry. I am inspired, along with many others of my generation, to be the change we need in this industry. Not everyone can commit to being 100% sustainable/having a 100% sustainable brand but I have taken small steps in my personal life and will be taking the steps in my professional life to keep evolving in a positive way for the world.
What are the messages and themes behind your project that you want people to take away? Do explore any topics like diversity, sustainability or politics in your work?
During the designing process for my brand, I decided to revisit garments I had designed throughout my time at university. My projects looked to gender equality and women empowerment, feeling comfortable in your own skin and with your ethnicity and heritage and more recently I am putting a greater focus on quality garments that people will keep for a long time/forever. My final collection had pieces that were made from headstock fabric and although I truly loved the fabric I used, as it is not possible for me to acquire more for my brand, I am trying to source similar materials through other routes that will hopefully either be sustainable or local (or both).
What’s an aspect of the fashion industry that you’re passionate about fixing or having a positive impact on?
I am very passionate about the over-production and mass-consumption of fashion. In today's world where influencers share an image of a gifted £10 dress which can translate into thousands of sales for that single item, it is disappointing to see that a lot of the young generation are not taking sustainability seriously. Living in Manchester, the home of many of the worlds biggest fast fashion brands, has made me realise I do not want to be a part of the fashion industry if it continues to grow and profit from the destruction of our world. That is why with my brand, I am committed to being as thoughtful as possible with every aspect, from packaging through to production. I know this will result in higher costs and therefore higher retail prices but I can't think of anything worse than seeing one of my own garments in a landfill. My clothes will be manufactured on a small scale and will be made to last, not to be worn once and tossed away when the next trend comes along.
What is your plan for the future?
My plans for the immediate future are to get my brand up and running - I would like the following and engagement of my instagram to be up so that I actually have an audience to launch to hopefully by early 2021. I am not looking to rush this process as I want to be true to myself and do not want the brand to grow in such a way that it would be impossible to produce stock while sticking to my values. For now this is a part time gig, after my full-time job but I hope that in a few years time I can expand my product range, maybe even collaborate with my best friends on some designs and as a long term goal, I would love to have a small shop.