Liam designer Emily Miller-Sharma has released her first collection in over a year and it’s zero waste!
Miller-Sharma says she used the collection, which she has titled ‘Everything’ to investigate two areas where she thinks we can have influence, and need to be urgently addressed: production waste and sizing.
Standard practice in the industry is to have 25 per cent of fabric discarded as waste during the cutting of a garment, such as the curve of the neckline on a T-shirt which is difficult to find a commercial use for.
However, Miller-Sharma came up with a solution. The offcuts generated during the production process of the Everything collection were cut into strips and sent to Wellington-based knitter Geo Gregory of Geo Knits Slow and her posse of knitters.
The hand-knitted pieces are available in limited runs.
The Everything collection is also available in sizes 4-24, and Liam will continue to offer custom sizing for anyone who is outside of that size range, says Miller-Sharma.
“We have worked closely with a range of people across various different sizes to really understand how to get our grade rules right, and make sure that our fits are spot on,” she says.
“What it has meant is that some of the pieces have had the designs slightly tweaked to work across the full-size range. For example, in sizes 16-24 our pants have an elasticated back waistband, and our Weirder Slip has an additional dart in the cup.”
And Liam Patterns are also here to stay. The full collection will be available to purchase as a pattern in November (both a paper print out as well as a downloadable .pdf).
The knit patterns developed in collaboration with Geo Knits Slow are available to purchase now.
In addition to this, Ruby will be selling knitting needles, custom-made from waste dowl, and repurposed at the ReMaker Space in Tauranga.
And last but certainly not least the collection is absolutely gorgeous!
Available now in RUBY stores.
