Sistahood on show at the NZ Organic Expo
Six weeks ago, the Green Living Show and New Zealand Organic Expo contacted Raglan-based fashion designer Freddy Chur to showcase her 100% organic street wear range, Sistahood. Ever since, Freddy has been hard at work trying to put it all together, and this weekend in Auckland, her new pieces will be showcased as part of a business and lifestyle expo promoting sustainable living.
there’s not much elasticity and you can’t funk it up because most of the dyes are toxic. My goal from the start was to create comfortable street styles, and if I can’t do it in an organic way, I don’t want to do it at all,” says Freddy. Having travelled the world, Freddy’s initial move to Raglan was around six and a half years ago, “Raglan has an amazing community of people and is so, so, special, it feels like home now,” she says of her adopted hometown. Although currently busy putting the finishing touches on her brand new collection Freddy hopes to eventually produce her sample range as well as setting up her business so that her garments can be 100% created in Raglan.
The new range for Sistahood, and her new line for men, Brothahood, features their signature harem pants as well as t-shirts, singlets, dresses and hoodies. Awareness of the environment and being conscious of the materials used during production are an important part of Freddy’s business ethos. Every piece of clothing is hand crafted in Raglan using organic materials sourced from places such as Turkey and India and Freddy enlists the help of local creatives, such as her pattern maker and sewer Dominique le Courtois, to contribute to Raglan’s economic self-sufficiency. “Living in Raglan has opened up my eyes, and I guess it’s a global movement as well, but a lot of people are waking up to the fact that we need to change our ways,” says Freddy of her motivation to produce sustainably.
Freddy Chur with her Sistahood range Drawn to creative vocations such as photography and video production, and with a keen interest in fashion, it was natural for Freddy to progress to fashion design. However, Freddy believes that the ‘can-do’ attitude of the local Raglan community was what inspired her to go for it and start her own fashion label. “I always had a passion for fashion but I always thought you had to study fashion design and I didn’t want to spend
time doing that. The thing with people in Raglan is [if they have an idea] they’ll just do it, and I thought that was a really cool thing,” says Freddy. Despite some of the challenges she faces using organic and raw materials, Freddy is determined to produce her clothing in an environmentally and socially conscious way. “When you’re working with organic materials there’s a lot of limitations like
“I know it’s far-fetched but I would really like to start growing [raw materials for textiles] like flax and make the entire piece in Raglan from start to finish. So many people put so much effort into being eco and self-sustainable and it’s hard doing everything yourself. But if all of us do it together, it’s easy,” says Freddy. Freddy’s show will be on at 5pm on Sunday 29 May and all the models walking the runway will be from Raglan so check out the expo this weekend for some tips on sustainable living and some familiar faces. Maki Nishiyama