News / Bristol Fashion
The brand redefining what transparency means in the fashion industry
Bristol’s fashion industry keeps expanding and transforming at an incredible pace.
This time, Ovrbloom and its founder, Jess Strain, are pushing for new ways to make one of the most polluting industries into a more transparent one.
Ovrbloom is a St Philip’s-based brand selling hats and handbags in hand-painted designs.
is needed now More than ever
With garment tags containing QR codes, the company seeks to produce an easily digestible report about the materials in their products and where they’re made.
“Radical transparency is what is needed in the industry. Transparency without the need for 50-page text-heavy reports,” they state on their website.
Textiles graduate Jess, the mastermind behind it all, started to immerse herself in sustainability while at university. She got involved in activism against fossil fuels and that later transformed into a consuming curiosity about the fashion industry.
Instead of long and heavy documents, Ovrbloom is opting for visual reports about their products’ costs and materials – photo: Ovrbloom
“There’s so much greenwashing that happens in the industry, it’s incredible,” she said.
With her knowledge and creativity combined, she looked at the lack of transparency as one of the fashion’s main flaws, telling Bristol24/7: “People are inquisitive about where it comes from, but oftentimes they don’t know where to start.”
With visual reports, Ovrbloom aims to raise awareness about the actual costs of materials, as well as the labour behind every garment.
All of Ovrbloom’s designs are hand-painted and uniquely designed in Bristol – photo: Dre Da Silva
In a bid to build more sustainable shopping habits, Jess wants people to have one takeaway: “Buying less and buying better… Everything comes down to consumption.”
As for the future? Jess wants to expand what she’s already proved within her brand.
She adds: “I’m working on helping other brands to create transparency reports. That’s how we escalate change.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci-Lhujou9Q/
This piece of independent journalism is supported by NatWest and the Bristol24/7 public and business membership
Main photo: Dre Da Silva
Read next:
- Endangered trees and local plan on agenda for Bristol Tree Forum
- ‘How can we reach net zero when our public transport system is in shambles?’
- ‘How can we escape the vicious cycle of buy, wear, repeat?’
- Tackling the big questions climate change poses
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