Guest Blog Written by Chloe Grant in collaboration with People Over Product Magazine
Chloe is a freelance sustainable intimate apparel designer, Editor-in-Chief of People Over Product magazine, and Sustainable Fashion Week: Birmingham Hub volunteer & designer! People Over Product Magazine, is a quarterly sustainable fashion magazine that aims to promote clothing that protects both people and planet.
Sustainable Fashion Week: Birmingham Hub 2025 at The Old Print Works
It’s been a long time since Britain’s second-city of Birmingham has been regarded as a fashion hub; a city that used to be home to a thriving network of makers and manufacturers has witnessed its vast swathes of factories and warehouses become desolate spots on the city’s skyline. As a result, Birmingham is dotted with beautiful brick buildings begging for creativity and art to bloom in them once more.
One such building, The Old Print Works, situated in the city’s suburb of Balsall Heath, is an example of where that longing for craft, community, and sustainability has converged into a thriving hotbed of creativity. The 20th century building, with its maze of rooms and high arched windows, is built on the site of a former Edwardian printing factory—hence the building’s current name—but it has now taken on the role of a vibrant community space; home to pottery groups, independent artists, creative studios, and so much more.
Their Daily Thread group offers an open sewing studio, creating a place for fashion and textile amateurs and professionals to meet and make together.
Its infamy as the creative heart of Balsall Heath made it the perfect place for Sustainable Fashion Week’s Birmingham Hub: a central location for all things sustainable fashion in the Midlands.
This year’s Sustainable Fashion Week celebrations at The Old Print Works took place over the first weekend in October, bringing a host of exciting events, all focused on promoting slow fashion consumption and the joy of sustainable creation. The festivities kicked off with an Outfit Exchange on the Friday evening, where people brought in items they no longer found a use for and swapped them for others’ pre-loved garments. Rails were stocked full of everything from warm winter coats and tweed jackets to silky evening-wear and decadent South-East Asian attire; a beautiful blend of different styles, colours, and trends from across a wonderfully diverse community.
Attendees browsed the rails, and snacked on Sam’s Vegan Delights’ tasty treats, until they’d found their pre-loved hidden gem.
The next day the events amped up with a whole day full of exciting goings on. The early afternoon saw the Old Print Works’ drawing room fill up with an array of colour, fabric, beads, and ink, as a collection of creatives arrived to share their unique skills and talents focused on sustainable fashion.
Skills included DIY screen printing on to scrap fabrics and bags made from discarded curtains with Kirstie Trew, bio-based algae yarn demonstrations from Elle MacMillan, a print workshop with Extinction Rebellion, and an introduction to nettle yarn with Jutta Stahlhacke, to name a few.
Over the next few hours, the room filled up with people learning new skills, patching up torn clothing with delicate appliqué, and sharing stories with fellow artists, designers, and lovers of fashion.
To view all designers featured in the 2025 Conscious Catwalk Event, please see our Designer Lookbook
As the sun set over the grand Edwardian building the drawing room transitioned from a place filled with sewing needles, scrap fabric, and ink, into the setting for the SFW Conscious Catwalk, complete with raised runway and makeshift DJ booth. Once the models were all dressed in a range of sustainably made outfits it was showtime. The catwalk showcased work from local designers and creatives all working with reclaimed or repurposed materials to create beautiful, eye-catching looks.
The line up included pieces from The Old Print Works’ very own Daily Thread group, created by Ted Ryan, Bryan Foster, and Jutta Stahlhacke; macramé pieces by BCU artist-in-residence Mahawa Keita; upcycled and reimagined charity shop finds from Kirstie Trew and Maya Patel; upcycled wedding dresses turned lingerie from Created by Chloe Grant; dystopian looks from Vault of Serenity; upcycled wedding dresses from Charlotte of Tixaria Couture; statement crochet from Hannah Greenwood; whimsical costume fashion created from recycled homeware embellishments from Xylia of Tiggy Tox; and the over-sized, cocoon-like structures of Beverley’s Opulance Boutique.
The crowd watched on as piece after piece, born out of discarded items, took to the catwalk, proving that one human’s trash can truly be another’s treasure. All it takes is some imagination, a dash of talent, and a sewing machine.
The exciting weekend of events concluded with the Sustainable Fashion Forum on the Sunday; an afternoon filled with thought-provoking presentations from academics and sustainability advocates. Talks included a reading from excerpts of Bound by Maddie Ballard, with a discussion hosted by Ellie Warr, in collaboration with a practical embroidery task from The Old Print Work’s textile artist Jane Thakoordin who invited the group to create mindful sashiko embroidery.
There was a screening of The Threads of Resilience, a documentary on waste colonialism by Frida Lidbom, followed by a talk on ethical design and designing for disassembly by Chloe Grant. Then, the group heard from Sustainable Economics on the reality of the lives of mistreated garment workers within the UK, and the importance of a fair fashion industry. The event concluded with a discussion led by Maya Patel of REINVNTD, a sustainable fashion organisation that leads creative workshops across the west midlands.
As the finishing touches were put to the group’s sashiko pieces everyone shared their thoughts on integrating sustainable action into their lives and their wardrobes, and the joy that comes from finding a community to collaborate with in the pursuit of a kinder fashion industry for all.
SFW: Birmingham Hub’s weekend of events shows that reclaiming fashion in this fast-paced, globalised world, truly comes in the form of establishing a community of like-minded people who love fashion, love their city, and want to help save our planet – one mended item at a time.
Want to keep up to date with Sustainable Fashion events at The Old Print Works? Follow @sustainablefashionbrum for more details.
You can read the latest issue of People Over Product here: linktr.ee/peopleoverproductmagazine.