Reclaim the Night

‘Reclaim the Night’ is a womenswear collection that was born out of my love of the Glasgow nightlife scene and the longing I felt for it during lockdown. However, the sense of belonging and safety I feel going clubbing with my friends was directly contradicted by predatory behaviour such as spiking, harassment and violence. Throughout lockdown, I began to work in local tanneries who put an emphasis on sourcing locally and answering tough questions about sustainability and the morality of using animal skin. While working, I was impressed by their database of sourcing cows throughout Scotland and Ireland, and the privately owned tannery which cut down emissions. However, despite these improvements in addressing the sustainability factors surrounding leather, waste was still an issue. This led to me having a heavy focus on using leather waste in new innovate ways to ensure that the entirety of skin is used and therefore the animal that was killed is respected and does not end in landfill.