The Prince of Wales and Sustainable Fashion

Two organisations founded by The Prince of Wales, The Princes Foundation and the Campaign For Wool, have launched sustainable fashion projects this winter with profits going towards training programmes that will help preserve traditional textile skills.

The Modern Artisan Project

The Modern Artisan Project launched in November and has given textile students from the UK and Italy the opportunity to produce a sustainable menswear and womenswear collection, equipping them with skills for their future careers.

The project was born out of a mutual interest in sustainable fashion between The Prince of Wales, President of The Prince’s Foundation, and Federico Marchetti, Chairman and CEO of YNAP.

Six Italian students from Politecnico di Milano led the design of the collection while four British artisans undertook training in small batch productions skills at Dumfries House before crafting the majority of the collection by hand in the estate’s Textile Training Centre.

The capsule collection comprising 10 pieces of womenswear and eight pieces of menswear is available across all four YOOX NET-A-PORTER online stores.

The Campaign for Wool launches scarf to celebrate tenth anniversary

The Campaign for Wool celebrated its tenth anniversary earlier this month with the launch of a limited edition wool scarf, designed in collaboration with Amy Powney from sustainable brand Mother of Pearl and manufactured by Johnstons of Elgin.

The scarf showcases the sustainable benefits of wool and is made with wools from four leading wool growing countries - The United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

Profits from sales will support The Prince’s Foundation’s Future Textiles initiative and apprenticeships at Johnstons of Elgin.

The Prince, who is the Campaign For Wool’s Patron and helped design the scarf, said:

It is important to remind people of how valuable and sustainable wool is as a fibre and as a natural material.

Wool is a product that the most brilliant boffin in the most hi-tech laboratory could never create.

By investing in nature as the true economy we have an incredible opportunity to reinvigorate sustainable industries.

Wool’s sustainable and biodegradable properties provide a unique natural option for us all to reassess for environmental values and purchases.

We need to put nature at the heart of how we operate and to evolve our economic model, putting people and planet at the heart of global value creation."

Find out more about The Prince of Wales's sustainability work.