An Interview with Rose’s Wardrobe
Emma and Leanne met in 2013, fell in love, and went on to create the brand Rose’s Wardrobe, a ladieswear vintage-inspired brand. Taking inspiration from their own Granny’s wardrobes these two wonderful ladies create pieces that are sustainable and timeless from their home in Langholm, Scotland. When I announced this website I messaged Emma straight away to see if she would do an interview for the website, and to my great delight, she agreed!
*I have worked with this brand previously on gifting and PR basis, however, this article is unbiased*
Can you tell us a bit about Rose’s Wardrobe and what you sell?
“Rose’s Wardrobe is a ladieswear vintage-inspired brand, recreating Granny’s Wardrobe from the 1930s to 1960s. We use limited edition, sustainable and natural fabrics - all handmade to order in Scotland by myself (Emma) and my wife Leanne. At the moment we have a range of garments including 5 skirts designs, 3 blouses, a dress, loungewear and undergarments.”
What led you to create Rose’s Wardrobe? And who was your inspiration?
“I have always loved vintage fashion from a young age, I collect vintage sewing equipment, patterns, magazines which was encouraged by my Nanna (who’s a collector of various things too) and going to car boot sales looking for unique pieces to add to my collection. I knew I wanted to do fashion as a career so went to college and university where I learnt more about fabrics, construction and fashion history. We base all our designs on people either within our family, someone else’s or Hollywood stars. Our three main muses are Rose (the brand’s namesake and Leanne’s Gran), Edna & Patricia (My Great Grandma and Nanna)”
What is your background in fashion?
“I studied Fashion Design at the University of Central Lancashire and Leanne studied Clothing design & manufacture at Herriot Watt in Galashiels. We met whilst working at our first fashion jobs in Langholm (where we now live, again!) in 2013, I was a garment designer and Leanne was in production and sourcing. So I would do a design and then pass to Leanne to find the overseas factory to get it made in and get them to produce samples etc. We then moved to Manchester where Leanne worked as an Account manager for an accessories supplier and I worked for an online vintage-inspired brand - designing garments and creating prints. The brand had a great following when I joined but unfortunately, they lost sight of what customers wanted and opted for cheaper fabrics and more modern styles. The idea of us starting a brand together formed around 2017 but we started to look for manufacturers and trying to move too quickly. We relooked at the brand in 2019 when we moved back to Scotland and decided sustainability was a big part of our brand ethos, we had both worked for companies trying to get items as cheap as possible, so we hand make everything- slow and considered fashion not fast fashion.”
Has your personal style influenced your brand in any way?
“We both don’t dress particularly vintage, I have a few quirky bits, some vintage pieces and sample from our collections but don’t have to confidence to wear it all the time! We both love classic design, good construction of garments and clothes that fit well so that really influences what do from creating the patterns to how we sew up the garments.”
Your brand is big on sustainability, can you tell us a bit about how you are trying to be sustainable?
“It is such a major part of the brand ethos, mainly due to working in the fashion industry and knowing how companies drive down the price year after year even though things like fabric costs, cost of living and new machines goes up they still want the items cheaper. The companies we have worked for have mainly used Chinese, Bangladeshi and Indian suppliers so you know that if the price is driven down so much someone is not going to be paid properly and it won’t be the factory owners! We went to a Fashion Revolution talk early on when building the brand and that really opened our eyes further to the appalling conditions garment workers have to deal with to get underpaid for highly skilled work.
We know our garments are slightly higher priced but we make everything ourselves using only organic, natural and deadstock fabric. Our decision to use these fabrics came as we didn’t want to have a negative effect on our planet whilst building our brand. Organic cotton uses fewer chemicals and pesticides so better for the planet and the farmers and fabric makers. The deadstock fabric we use is from local Mills that have closed down in Langholm, we love that we use fabric designed and sometimes made in Langholm, it has such a rich textile history. It also makes the pieces limited edition as sometimes there is only enough for a few of each garment. All our packaging, labels and thank you cards are either made from recycled cardboard or can be recycled or reused.”
What are your ambitions for the future of Rose’s Wardrobe?
“We dipped our toe, before lockdown, into Local workshops so would love to be able to start that up again when things go back to the ‘new normal’. Also would absolutely love a wee studio so that we can build our brand, produce more vintage-inspired styles and build a little Rose’s Wardrobe team - but still keeping the same brand values - slow fashion not fast fashion.”
And finally, what does fashion mean to you?
“Fashion means to us - timeless, beautifully made garments that make you feel your absolute best when wearing them, pieces that you will wear, treasure and have wonderful memories in.”
I can’t wait to see what the future hold for Rose’s Wardrobe! It is amazing to see a small business, run by two women, working sustainably and ethically, and I sincerely hope we start to see more brands like this.
Visit the Rose’s Wardrobe website: https://www.roseswardrobe.co.uk/
Visit the Rose’s Wardrobe Instagram: https://www.roseswardrobe.co.uk/
