We recently collaborated with ME&EM, a luxury British womenswear designer, providing beautiful tweed for a bespoke jacket. Find out more below about the project.
We have been working with luxury British womenswear fashion brand ME&EM for a number of years now and helping them to create a number of beautiful pieces, including a completely bespoke jacket. The piece featured in the brand’s February collection, British Heritage, and it was a privilege to work with a team that shared so many of the same values as we do here at the mill.
We’ve never shied away from colour, using it at both ends of the spectrum - from bold shades, to subtle tones twisted into the yarn. The team from ME&EM picked up on this straight away, and it’s something that they also embody throughout their iconic collections.
Perhaps, as two long-standing British brands, we use these daring tones to contrast against the grey, gloomy climate that we’ve all become accustomed to! Regardless, ME&EM knew that they wanted to make some conscious choices when it came to selecting a colour palette for the bespoke jacket.
From the original tweed quality the brand used a natural base, paired with bursts of colour - a mixture of red yarn, blue yarn, and white yarn and they introduced a textured tan brown yarn that was used in the final fabric. The edges of the yarn that we created for ME&EM were fringed, adding some playful softness. This introduced texture, depth, and a finish that almost looked visually different depending on the light. Our designers took the texture, structure and weight of the fabric into account, knowing that it was going to be used to create a lightweight jacket.
Sometimes, our customers visit us at the mill, or we (or our international agents) will visit them. We have an initial meeting at this point, during which we get clear on the brief for the fabric that is required. In the case of ME&EM, the brand had a plan for a collection already - they were being guided by an emphasis on British craftsmanship. After reviewing the brief, the team from ME&EM referred to our archives for some ideas on colour, texture, and fabric finish. Sometimes, our clients will request more development work, and in other cases, some customers have good archives of our fabrics, and a development may come out of the blue from this.
The scale of development work needed can vary from a simple tweak, to full revamp, and we have these discussions in person, online, or by sending samples out to get tactile feedback from the customer. When we worked with ME&EM, most of our tweaks were done online and through hands-on samples.
For some projects, we might send illustrations of yarns we are considering, or other fabrics that we think the customer would be interested in. With ME&EM, it was refreshing to work with a team who had a definite idea of what they’d like, and all that was needed was some input from our experts to finalise the fabric. Quite often though, there is a lot of discussion, and other times we are given an extremely in-depth brief to work on - warranting rounds of revisions and collaborative work.
During some projects, we work to meet very specific needs - we may need to source new yarns, or arrange new dyes or twists. The dyeing and twists are done on site at our mill, and this helps us to work to an efficient timeframe from developing ideas to producing the final fabric. Generally though, we only have a short time to design, produce and send the fabric to the customer, so time is very important. ME&EM approached us with a timescale in mind, and we were able to meet this deadline for them.
We used the brief from ME&EM to create several fabric interpretations, and they were woven in our sample loom and sent out to the team. We always aim to send as many variations as we can, covering different interpretations of the brief to give the client a range of options. However, we are unique in the fact that we don’t do this using any kind of digital software, so all development work is physically woven fabric.
Once ME&EM were happy with their sample pieces and had made their final fabric selection, we proceeded to order meterage for them to create sample garments with, before they went on to place a production order. The seams of ME&EM’s bespoke tweed jacket began taking shape - the jacket was going to be a short style, with a slightly boxy sleeve and large lapels, and a fitted silhouette. Following the fabric procurement, the jacket went into production - and it’s now featured on the brand's website - the Heritage Crop Jacket.
We are extremely proud to have partnered with ME&EM for the fabric for these staple, Spring wardrobe pieces. The Heritage Crop Jacket feels like the perfect symbol of how classic shapes, high quality fabrics, and considerate details create timeless pieces that withstand passing trends. If you’ve been inspired by this sophisticated, ready-to-wear garment, why not try your hand at making your own? Read our guide on creating a Chanel-inspired tweed jacket, or take a look at our sewing patterns - and choose from our extensive selection of British tweed.
