Yoox Net-a-Porter launches responsible collection crafted by students

Yoox Net-a-Porter has teamed up with The Prince’s Foundation to launch a responsible ready-to-wear luxury womenswear capsule collection, designed and handcrafted by students.

The 13-piece capsule marks the culmination of the second edition of The Modern Artisan, Yoox Net-a-Porter’s and The Prince’s Foundation’s flagship training programme, which commenced in 2019. The collection builds on the success of the debut range in 2020 by becoming the first capsule to align 100 percent to the retail group’s s sustainability and circularity design guidelines and its first-ever carbon-neutral collection.

Each of the pieces has been crafted by students taking part in The Modern Artisan, a 10-month paid programme that supports four British fashion and textiles graduates and four Italian graduates from the design school Politecnico di Milano. They learn the end-to-end process of designing, handcrafting, and bringing a more sustainable luxury collection to a global market. During the programme, they were also given the opportunity to showcase their work to His Majesty, then The Prince of Wales, at Dumfries House.

The Artisans were tasked to carefully select natural and certified materials with over 50 percent repurposed from surplus textile production through partner supplier Maeba International for the capsule. They also needed to apply circular design principles such as zero waste and data-informed design and were given access to five years of Yoox Net-a-Porter customer insights to understand long-term customer preferences and design for longevity.

They also received support from industry experts from Yoox Net-a-Porter, The Prince’s Foundation, and several mentoring designer brands, including Gabriela Hearst, Nanushka and Stella Jean.

Yoox Net-a-Porter unveils latest The Artisans collection with The Prince’s Foundation

Inspired by Highgrove Gardens, run by The Prince's Foundation, the capsule marks the first time the gardens, adjacent to Their Majesties The King and The Queen Consort's private residence, have served as inspiration for a fashion collection. Key pieces include a silk evening dress inspired by the curves of the Thyme Walk topiary, a yellow jumper inspired by the bright benches, and a waistcoat drawing inspiration from practical garden workwear. There is also a blanket coat, a silk top and skirt, a cashmere coat, a shirt dress, a cardigan, a jumper dress, a cotton shirt, a knitted vest, and wide-leg trousers.

The collection was crafted by the Artisans in the Textile Training Centre at Dumfries House, headquarters of The Prince’s Foundation in East Ayrshire, Scotland, where they undertook six months of intensive training in luxury small batch production. The training focused on advanced technical production skills within sewing, pattern drafting and quality control, while also developing skills to handle wool, cashmere, and silk to ensure garment finishes meet the luxury market standard.

In addition, The Artisans also learnt about the product development process at Fashion Enter in London, and luxury knitwear manufacturing, as they designed four knitwear pieces, the only styles to be produced off-site by UK-based suppliers Johnstons of Elgin and Corgi.

Each piece has also been embedded with a Digital ID through Yoox Net-a-Porter’s partnership with EON, which shares with customers how the retail group worked with environmental consultancy Carbonsink to minimise, calculate, and compensate for the carbon footprint of each garment. Carbon credits support the Artisans’ chosen certified offsetting project, the Kariba Forest Protection, which protects forests and wildlife and supports community-based training and upskilling on the Zimbabwean-Zambian border.

Jacqueline Farrell, education director at The Prince’s Foundation at Dumfries House, said in a statement: “We hope that consumers value fashion differently with a greater understanding of the skill and expertise involved at every stage of the production.

“Seeing the artisans develop their skills over the course of The Modern Artisan has been a source of pride for everyone involved, and we can’t wait to see the impact they all make in the industry as they enter the next stage of their career.”

Alison Loehnis, interim chief executive at Yoox Net-a-Porter, added: “We have been blown away by this group of next-generation artisans and are delighted to bring this unique collection to Net-a-Porter and Yoox customers around the world.

“With sustainability principles applied throughout the design and production process, the collection aligns with our ambition to drive a more sustainable and circular fashion system. We are grateful for The Prince’s Foundation’s partnership and commitment to protecting heritage skills that are the essence of luxury.”

The Yoox Net-a-Porter for The Prince’s Foundation collection is available exclusively at netaporter.com and Yoox.com, and their respective apps. The retail group will also be donating 50 percent of the RRP to the charity to support its innovative training programmes.