In lieu of supporting creative communities and the endeavors of emerging artists, industry luxe fashion leader Burberry has donated once more to the ReBurberry Fabric program. Launched in 2020 in partnership with the British Fashion Council, the program bestows fashion students with a surplus of donations of upcycled fabrics. Thus, reducing the possibility of them going to waste. So far, the initiative has donated over 12,000 meters of fabric to more than 30 fashion schools and universities throughout the United Kingdom.

By reaching out varieties of fabric – which include a variety of materials from past collections – into the hands of young creatives and up-and-coming designers, freedom is provided for these artists to mature tomorrow’s approach to fashion design and production. Thus enabling an enlightened blueprint for new generations to promote sustainability at the vanguard of their future collections.

“We are committed to supporting the next generation of exciting creatives while ensuring we all do what we can to protect the environment. We’re proud to be working with the British Fashion Council once more to help emerging diverse talent achieve their ambitions while reinforcing the importance of sustainable practices and circularity. By equipping students with these materials and tools to help their creativity thrive, we can all create a better future for our industry.” – Nicole Lovett, Responsibility Programme Director, Burberry

As of 2022, Burberry has met all their targets established in part with their 2017-2022 Responsibility Strategy. They are designated as carbon neutral across their operations globally. All electricity furnished is from renewable sources, and the majority of their products have two or more positive attributes, meaning they carry a social or environmental benefit. Through the positive alignment with all set targets, the luxury brand has now positively impacted over 1 million people.

“Having access to this fabric allowed me to experiment and be more ambitious with my ideas and execution, which in turn created a final outcome I was extremely proud of. The main idea of this initiative has inspired me to try and design with less waste as well as to try and use deadstock fabrics and other pre-existing materials more.” – Leila Eskandary-Miles, 1st Year B.A. (Hons) Fashion Design with Business Studies student at the University of Brighton

“For me, the most important aspect of the initiative would be that it allows students like myself to work with fabrics they wouldn’t have had access to before. As new designers, we want to be working with as many different types of fabrics as possible in our experiments and in the trialling stages. Along with being very wasteful, this process can be really limited and hard to do when keeping to a budget. This initiative allows students to cut down on the existing waste and provides us with more materials to work with, which I think is so important.”- Georgia Bate, 1st Year B.A. (Hons) Fashion Design with Business Studies student at the University of Brighton

“This initiative was an opportunity to experiment and be creative without the burden of cost associated with using high-quality materials. Burberry’s donation allowed me to experiment without bounds. For an aspiring designer, it’s reassuring to know that luxury fashion brands are actively looking to support young creatives in the industry.” – Luca McCarry, 1st Year B.A. (Hons) Fashion Design with Business Studies student at the University of Brighton