Vancouver Zero Waste Designer to showcase at Canada House in London

Vancouver’s Sans Soucie

CONFIRMED FOR

Toronto Fashion Incubator’s London Fashion Week Showcase at Canada House

12^th -14^th SEPTEMBER 2018 // TRAFALGAR SQUARE

Sans Soucie Textile + Design has been invited to present their HERstory collection (2019) at Toronto Fashion Incubator’s (TFI) London Fashion Week showcase at Canada House in Trafalgar Square. 

TFI’s first London event took place in February 2018 and attracted notable attendees such as renowned fashion journalist and influencer Hilary Alexander, buyers from Net-a-Porter, Wolf and Badger, Debenhems and several smaller UK and US boutiques. Attendees included UK sales agencies Rainbow Wave, Polly King, Indigofera, Papier Mache Tiger, and UK and international media including Business of Fashion, Drapers, CBC The National, NY Times, Forbes, Huffington Post, Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, So-En (Japan), La Stampa (Italy), Journal Dubai and many more. 

Each season, a curated collective of Canadians are featured at Canada House in London, UK, during London Fashion Week. This exceptional showcase provides international exposure for Canada’s talented designers and an opportunity to meet and network with UK industry, retail buyers, sales agents, media and industry VIP.  The event is held in collaboration with the High Commission of Canada to the United Kingdom, Canada-UK Foundation and the City of Toronto. 

The showcase is scheduled from September 12- 14^th, 2018.

ABOUT THE DESIGNER & COLLECTION

“I am a designer who transforms waste, utilizes obsolete clothing and textile machinery and incorporates traditional artisanal techniques to produce a Canadian cultural product that not only represents my story, but that of where we live and the society we live in.”

Sans Soucie is an award winning Vancouver based textile + design studio founded by Katherine Soucie in 2003.  This studio is unique in that it specializes in the zero waste transformation of waste hosiery (pre-consumer manufacturing waste; castoff pantyhose, tights) into new textiles, garments, accessories and 3D forms. Each Sans Soucie textile collection is unique -- no two are alike and are only made in Vancouver.

Artisanal textile techniques combined with the use of obsolete and digital technology are used to remanufacture this waste into one of a kind heirloom made textiles.  These textiles are then made into limited edition garments and accessory collections.

Turning hose into clothes is a specialty for artist + textile + fashion designer Katherine Soucie. Katherine was introduced to the world of textiles and fashion as a child, creating inventive outfits from hand me down clothing and vintage fabrics. Being the youngest of five children from a mixed cultural heritage (British, French Canadian, German/First Nations), textiles and clothing allowed for her to find her voice and express her cultural identity.  

Her activism and participation in textiles/recycling began as a child after she participated in a program involved in the collection of waste in a provincial park.  After receiving an award for her efforts, this experience shifted into influencing her creative work and led her to study the art of Fashion in London and Toronto, Ontario, before furthering her studies in Textiles and Applied Art in Vancouver, Canada.  

It was while she studying Textiles at Capilano University, she came up with a concept that would guarantee her clothing line, Sans Soucie, and developed her signature hosiery textile process.  The result was fabric that was not only practical and functional but it was unique and 100% Canadian in its manufacturing.

It was from here that Sans Soucie Textile + Design was born and the focus was to establish a zero waste textile and clothing design studio that specialized in transforming pre-consumer nylon waste hosiery (pantyhose) into new hand made textiles for garment production.

The mission at Sans Soucie is to rethink ways to maintain textile production in Canada by establishing partnerships with Canadian mills to obtain their waste textiles.  In doing so, this allows for a unique production of hand made, Canadian-made textiles, garments and accessories. Katherine is motivated to educate on the importance of craft based practices, local production and the valuable role that waste textiles serves as a material resource.  

" As a zero waste designer based in Vancouver, I am excited to unveil a selection from my HERstory collection (2019) in London at TFI’s LFW showcase. After ten years of research and development with my signature textile process – and creative break – I am now producing silhouettes I never imagined possible with my materials.”

 HERstory is codified collection that pays homage to pioneering women through the narrative of Sans Soucie’s signature hosiery textiles.  Hosiery is designed to be a second skin and is a revolutionary material.  Over time, it has evolved from being worn by men to becoming an iconic symbol of femininity and female style.

HERstory embodies the story of women -- our strength, our wisdom and our valuable role in the history of fashion, art and life.  This collection is a statement on the importance of creativity, activism, culture and identity. 

In this collection you discover that it has been designed to operate as a series of portraits. Portraits that act as a tribute to the life, journey, and spirit of Patti Smith, Nina Simone, Georgia O’Keefe, Sonia Delaunay and Louise Bourgeois.  

Louise Dress SS//19

Patti Dress SS//19

Georgia Tunic Dress SS//19

Nina Dress SS/19