In Depth Collaboration, Connection, and Craftsmanship

Collaboration in fashion has been a crucial part of the industry for many years. In artistic fields, connection and collaboration are imperative. By connecting and working together with another artist, you are trusting your vision with another pair of eyes. You are allowing your art to be adapted by someone else’s creativity. This is how game changing fashion pieces are designed.

In 1997, Merce Cunningham, an incredible dancer and choreographer collaborated with Rei Kawakubo, the creative director of Comme des Garçons. Together, they launched an avant garde Spring/Summer collection called ‘Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body’. As the name suggests, they combined their talents – movement and dance and fashion design, to create a bridge between a garment and a moving body. The human body was reimagined through the lens of contemporary dance and fashion design, as the strange contortions of the garment skewed viewers’ perceptions of their own physicality. Through collaboration, connection, and craft – they pushed the boundaries of design and created something beautiful.

Twenty years later, in 2017, an unlikely resurgence of the divisive ‘Crocs’ occurred. These garish shoes have divided opinions in the fashion world. Love or hate them, the Christopher Kane x Crocs collab was a prime example of how collaboration and craft can expand our perceptions of high fashion. Kane’s addition of graphic patterns and gemstones to the shoes takes them from comfortable and practical to bold and cosmopolitan.

Through these incredible partnerships, the brands involved have a new realm of possibilities available to them. Fairbee has also collaborated with a variety of brands to provide accessible and high quality sustainable solutions. Let’s take a look at recent collaborations…

Iconic collaborations throughout history continue to demonstrate the power behind working together. Collaboration is integral to Fairbee’s ethos; therefore they carefully choose to partner with companies that strengthen their brand image and with which they can accelerate positive impact.

Sneakers are an iconic fashion item and many people love them, including Fairbees CTO, Arjan Assink. Inspired by his love of sneakers and passion for sustainability, he researched the manufacturing process of mainstream sneaker brands, like Nike’s production of Jordans. He was disappointed to discover that despite the high demand for sneakers, brands are not placing enough emphasis on producing them sustainably. The working conditions in which sneakers are produced are still very poor. He decided something needed to be done. The first step was to look into how this popular style of shoe could be made ethically.

Arjan Assink is a major Jordan 1s fan. He made it his mission to make a model of Jordan 1s out of recycled materials. Who better to contact for a custom pair of ethically sourced shoes than Roel van Hoff, the man who makes unique Jordans for great names such as Armin van Buren and Afrojack? Prioritising precision and quality in his craft, Roel van Hoff was the natural partner for this collaboration. Arjan and Roel were fueled by their passion for sneakers to come to a joint solution. They came up with the idea of using old materials from Fairbee’s existing brand partners to create the Jordan 1s. This way no material is wasted, instead it is recycled – preserving our earth’s resources, and Roel got to work with some materials he hadn’t worked with before, like recycled PET and reclaimed innertubes. Arjan and Roel combined their creativity and the finished shoes were beautiful, exceeding everyone’s expectations. The shoes clearly show you don’t have to compromise on the iconic style of the Jordan 1 in order to use better materials.

After the success of this collaboration, Fairbee was inspired to branch out even more and work with others pioneering the sustainability scene.

Fairbee is collaborating with Earth Today, a company with charitable aims whilst providing incentives for other combines to grow. Earth Today’s goal is to preserve our natural environments by connecting nature preservation companies to increase engagement – allowing them to succeed in keeping natural spaces safe from destruction. Their ambition is to have 9 billion m2 of earth (half of the planet) under conservation in 2050. Partnering with Earth Today is an exciting opportunity for Fairbee to become involved in a mass scale sustainability project and help other companies work towards an important goal: maintaining the beauty of nature. In order to reduce their carbon footprint, Fairbee is giving brands and loyal customers m2’s nature protection facilitated by Earth Today. To be a truly sustainable brand it is important to consider how you are impacting society and whether or not you are making a positive change. Fairbees partnership with Earth Today demonstrates their determination to put sustainability first in everything they do.

In addition to these exciting partnerships, Fairbee works with Good On You, the sustainable and ethical fashion brand ratings website. This allows everyone who shops on Fairbee to know the impact of their purchase on the planet. We cannot continue to mindlessly shop and not consider the story of the maker behind our clothes. In collaboration with Good On You, Fairbee spotlights the reality of how sustainable clothing is, driving shoppers to be more environmentally conscious. Changing our mindset on how we consume fashion means being aware of the impact of clothing production on the environment, workers, and animals. Fairbee is setting the tone for other online shops to follow suit and partner with Good On You to change consumer perspectives.

There are more collabs in the pipeline. Fairbee continues to seek collaborations that will have a positive impact on the earth and accelerate us towards a more sustainable lifestyle. We hope other brands follow ourexample as the need to put our planet first in its time of need.