Little Collective sustainable clothing

a little collective of two, with a mission to produce staple wardrobe pieces, buying nothing new, and throwing nothing away.

choose your item – select your fabric

All designs are handmade in the UK from carefully sourced vintage fabrics. Most of these fabrics are one of a kind so once they go, they go! If you like a design, but can’t see a fabric that suits you, or you miss the boat, we will happily source a fabric especially for you, so get in touch.

Our Story

Little collective was born out of our love of simple, oversized styles in beautiful fabrics and a need to find an alternative to fast fashion and its impact on people and planet. .

We met over a decade ago studying fashion and textiles in Bristol, and although our careers took different paths (Interior Design and Art Psychotherapy!) we both continued to make our own clothes over the years for ourselves and for friends. When buying fabric for our own projects, we kept coming back to the realisation that there is a staggering quantity of beautiful, unusual, quality fabrics that already exist out there. Combined with the fact that while we lusted over flowing summer dresses from high street stores, with greenwashing and lack of transparency on manufacturing, shopping sustainably was and continues to be, a minefield. 

So when work slowed during the pandemic, we decided to bring together our little black books of vintage fabric suppliers and our own designs, to create a business with an honest approach. A little collective of two, with a mission to produce staple wardrobe pieces, accessible to all; buying nothing new, and throwing nothing away.

Our first item was the little audrey bucket hat, named after Em’s grandmother. The design came from Em inheriting her grandmother’s dresses, and wanting to make them into something she and the women in her family could treasure daily, rather than being stored away for safe-keeping. Following on from this, we decided to name all our designs after influential people in our lives, and the audrey is still our best seller to date!

Each month we source vintage items – from end of stock fabric rolls to tablecloths and curtains, which we then revive and release here on our website as fabric collections throughout the month. Even our labels and bindings are made from repurposed vintage cotton twill tape and traditional french bindings. Any scraps of fabric left behind, we save for stuffing the cushions from our limited edition homeware which drops at the end of the year.

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Read our blog post Where to buy ethical fashion made in UK

Are you a maker, grower or creative course provider? Like to list with us and benefit from joining our supportive community? We’d love to hear from you. Check out the packages we offer on our Join Us page and get in touch…