Manchester Fashion Week returns focused on responsibility, education and emerging design

After a decade-long hiatus, Manchester Fashion Week has returned with a three-day schedule focused on “conscious fashion,” featuring catwalk shows from emerging designers, panels with sustainability experts and pioneering tech innovators, and workshops aimed at reshaping the future of fashion.

Running until September 11, Manchester Fashion Week is combining the city’s industrial heritage with cutting-edge innovation to address the industry's most pressing challenges, focused around three themed days, designed “to merge fashion with conscious innovation”.

Gemma Gratton, executive producer of Manchester Fashion Week, said in a statement: “Manchester leads when it is practical, honest and bold. We built this programme around learning as much as showing. Education, workshops and open debate sit alongside the runway because that is how real change lands.

“Day one showed Manchester at its best, ambitious, authentic and unafraid to ask hard questions. The conversations we hosted and the creativity we saw on the runway set the tone for a week that is about more than spectacle. It is about responsibility, education and the power of design rooted in community.”

Manchester Fashion Week opens with a day dedicated to heritage, innovation and emerging design

Day one of the event featured catwalk shows from Manchester-based designer Mariusz Malon, a Polish-born graduate of Manchester Fashion Institute, who has dressed the likes of Doja Cat and SZA. Malon presented a SS26 collection, elevating outerwear into art, with the fashion audience serenaded by local singer-songwriter Phoebe Green, as sculptural silhouettes, modular layering and technical fabrics went down the catwalk.

Drew Kent’s Adoraflora showcased a playful collection rooted in crochet and knit that reimagined identity through soft pastels, deep violets and jolts of neon, while Indilisi offered clean tailoring and sculptural forms in organic and Fairtrade cotton, and Elite Pre-Loved reworked second-hand garments into bold, contemporary looks to highlight circular fashion.

Off the catwalk, the opening day kicked off with a morning panel from sustainability fashion media platform and consultancy Eco Age, featuring Mike Stolls from Private White V.C., and a public book launch at Waterstones bookstore for ‘The Nature of Fashion’ book by co-founder of Fashion Revolution and League of Artisans, Carry Somers.

Commenting on the return of Manchester Fashion Week and its unique schedule of catwalk shows mixed with sustainability fashion discussions and workshops, John Higginson, chief executive of Eco Age, which is supporting the event, added: “Manchester is a city of makers and innovators. This week is about doing the work in public. We are connecting heritage, skills and innovation to build models that last.

“Runways matter, but measurable impact matters more. If we leave this week with clearer commitments on local production, circularity and fair work, then we have done our job.”

Manchester Fashion Week’s Gemma Gratton talks to FashionUnited about the vision and future of the event

To find out more about Manchester Fashion Week's revival, the vision and strategy behind the three-day event, FashionUnited caught up with Gratton, the event's project director, on what’s special about Manchester’s fashion scene, how it is looking to become a “bold blueprint for the future of fashion,” and why education and open discussion were just as important as catwalk showcases.

What inspired you to want to bring Manchester Fashion Week back?

The fashion industry is under immense pressure from climate change and dwindling consumer trust, and it needs places willing to experiment. Manchester, as the birthplace of the modern textiles industry, has helped shape how the world makes and consumes fashion. With that history comes a responsibility to help lead the next chapter, one that’s more sustainable, ethical, and future-proof.

This city is the UK’s fast fashion capital, but it’s also home to incredible makers and some of the most exciting fashion-tech start-ups. That mix of heritage and innovation makes it the right place to reimagine what a fashion week can be: catwalks and spectacle, but also a platform for dialogue, education, and new ways forward.

What's so special about Manchester's fashion scene?

Manchester has always been a city that sets the tone, whether in industry, music, or sport. Fashion is no different. We’ve got heritage outerwear labels like Private White V.C., a growing 12-billion-pound fashion economy, and institutions like Manchester Fashion Institute, which launched the UK’s first fashion manufacturing lab. Add to that the fact that major names are increasingly relocating teams and operations to the North, and you get a city with real energy.

There’s also a strong culture of circularity here - from one of the UK’s first pre-loved designer boutiques, to today’s new wave of resale and rental platforms. It’s a scene that mixes heritage with experimentation in a way that feels very “Manchester.”

Why do you feel the city needs a fashion reset?

Because fashion as it stands isn’t sustainable, environmentally or socially. Manchester Fashion Week is our chance to face that directly. We’re drawing on the city’s industrial heritage but using it as a springboard for the future: combining old know-how with new tools. A reset here means shifting focus from spectacle to substance - building a week that challenges assumptions and gives the next generation a platform to try new approaches.

You've made sustainability a focal point of the event - why was that so intentional?

We're actually moving the conversation beyond traditional sustainability towards regeneration and circularity - future-proofing the industry. These approaches can't be an afterthought anymore. If we want consumers and brands to embrace regenerative practices, we have to show what that looks like in action.

We have to make it aspirational, accessible, and real. That's why we're focusing on areas with real impact: circularity, responsible production, future fabrics, and fashion tech. Manchester is already leading in this space; the city houses the UK's first fashion manufacturing lab with collaborative robotic tech.

We want to amplify that spirit of innovation and show the industry what's possible when we think beyond sustainability to true regeneration and circular systems.

The schedule is heavily centred around panel talks and workshops, rather than the traditional catwalk format - why was that important to you?

Because change doesn’t happen on the runway alone. For us, the panels and workshops are just as important as the shows. We’ve brought in people like Carry Somers, co-founder of Fashion Revolution and Safia Minney, award-winning social entrepreneur and founder of Indilisi, to lead those conversations.

The goal is to put heritage brands, start-ups, academics, and campaigners in the same room and give them space to share ideas honestly. The catwalk is still there, but it’s framed within a much bigger conversation.

The catwalk offering showcases some amazing emerging designers - what was the criteria for inclusion? Why those designers?

We wanted the runway to reflect Manchester’s strengths - menswear, outerwear, and subcultural style - but also its future. The designers we’ve chosen are high-quality, responsible, and forward-thinking, with roots in the North or strong ties to the city.

It’s less about chasing trends and more about spotlighting brands that represent Manchester’s identity while pushing the industry in a better direction.

What are your plans for the future of Manchester Fashion Week?

We’re thinking long term. Manchester Fashion Week has a five-year vision to grow year on year and cement the city’s place in fashion’s global landscape. We’re already building towards sponsorships and partnerships that will allow us to achieve this.

Our focus will remain on education, innovation, and transformation, proving that fashion weeks can be more than spectacle, but can influence business practice, shift culture, and inspire consumers.

The ambition is for Manchester to be recognised not just as a fashion capital, but as a city driving solutions to the industry’s biggest challenges. If, in five years, people see Manchester Fashion Week as the place where new ideas were tested, then we’ll have done our job.