Fashion in the North East Script

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FASHION IN THE NORTH EAST
INTRODUCTION
TALKING DIRECTLY TO THE CAMERA
LUCY:
Fashion is a massive part of the North
East's culture and helped shape the
region and how we see it today.
Fashion is constantly changing and
evolving so fast we barely have time
to adjust to each coming trend. The
North East has had a major impact on
fashion around the world. Despite
being relatively small this impact has
been monumental in the fashion
industry. Many major designers and
people working in fashion have noted
and credited the North East as
inspiration for their designs like the
late Virgil Abloh. From independent
brands to major worldwide companies,
the North East has been home to many
fashion companies like Studio
Courtenay, Harlow Collection and even
the world renowned J. Barbour & Sons.
MONTAGE OF IMAGES OF STUDIO COURTENAY
LUCY:
Studio Courtenay is a North East owned
and based sustainable fashion brand
founded by Louisa Rogers, who is a
fashion lecturer who felt inspired to
shop more ethically. Studio Courtenay
are big advocates that style shouldn't
need to be compromised for
sustainability which they have
showcased in their vast range of
pieces. They also pride themselves in
the fact they only use deadstock
fabrics to create their pieces so they
aren't contributing to the harmful
effects of producing brand new
materials. Everything sold from their
shop has been created in the UK in
small clothing studios with most of
their garments even being made to
order to ensure as little textiles
waste as possible. From the few fabric

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offcuts that they do produce, they
create gifts and accessories like
scrunchies and hairbands so that
everything gets as much wear as it
possibly can!
I was lucky enough to sit down with
the founder of Studio Courtenay and
talk with her about the company in
more detail.
INTERVIEW WITH LOUISA ROGERS
OVERHEAD SHOT
LUCY:
First of all, thank you for
interviewing with me today and the
first question I must ask is what
inspired you to first start this
company?
LOUISA:
So I guess I've always bought second
hand clothes, like it's always just
what me and my parents did. We'd go to
car boot sales, we'd go to charity
shops and I really loved like the
prints and the colours with all the
vintage stuff so I was just kind of
used to buying clothes in that way. I
didn't think it was unusual and then
as I kind of got older and vintage
started to become a lot more popular I
started to realize that oooh actually
there is a business opportunity here.
So I started buying and reselling and
then it kind of got to a point in...
it was 2020... late 2020, so we had
had the whole first year of the
pandemic to kind of think about things
and we kind of went 'Do you know what?
it would be amazing if we could pick
out the best bits of our vintage
pieces and actually kind of recreate
them.' So people can have them in the
colour that they want, in the size
that they want and they weren't kind
of limited, because obviously the
issue with vintage is there is only
one of each. So that was kind of the

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inspiration behind setting up Studio
Courtenay which was you know how can
we kind of do that but replicate it
for people so that they can have it in
the modern sizing you know in the
colours that they want but still have
that look.
LUCY:
Yeah, I love that. The second question
I have is, how is Studio Courtenay
sustainable?
LOUISA:
So, we're sustainable in a few
different ways. Obviously it's very
hard to be completely sustainable so
we try and just aim for almost like
net zero in terms of our impact. So
all of our clothing, accessories are
created in the North East of England.
We do have one factory that makes for
us in Dunfermline in Scotland but
still, it's kind of as local as we can
possibly get. Um obviously everyone
that works in those factories is paid
like a living wage you know there's no
maltreatment or anything, um we also
make use of our fabric offcuts. So
when you create a garment and you lay
out the patent pieces and you cut
around it, the fabric's that kind of
it's cut around often just gets thrown
in the bin or gets burned, we actually
take that and we make new items from
it. So we might make small things like
headbands or notebooks or scrunchies
just to kind of minimize the waste as
well. Um all of our packaging is
recyclable, so we do use plastic poly
mailers but they're recycled plastic
or cardboard packaging. Um yeah I
think that's kind of most of it, we
really want to kind of be responsible
in terms of how we create the fashion
and rather than saying you know 'We're
perfectly sustainable.' we'd rather
say 'We put a lot of thought into why
we do the things the way that we do.'
But we also know that there's a lot
that we can still improve.

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LUCY:
Yeah, that's really good. Would you
say there is a North East influence on
the brand? like the designs etc.
LOUISA:
I don't know if it necessarily comes
through in the designs, but I think
what I have got from the North East is
just kind of how friendly people are.
Um and I think you know, I wouldn't
have made this decision to set up a
business in a lot of places because I
think the North East community and
that openness and that chattiness and
that willingness to kind of help other
people and share, that is actually
something that you don't get
everywhere and it's really important
when you're starting something up,
that you feel sort of supported you
know like you've got people that are
there and kind of willing to help you.
So I think it might not be obvious in
the designs but the fact that I'm in
the North East was a big part of that
decision to kind of take that risk. I
know, i'm like an adopted geordie, I
love it!
LUCY:
Moving onto you now, what first
sparked your interest in fashion?
LOUISA:
Ah so my mum used to tell me, and IU
don't know if this is a lie or not,
but she used to say that when I was
two years old and in my like baby
walker she would put her issue of
vogue in front of me and I would go
like 'ahhhh' and just go silent and I
would sit there for hours even as like
a baby or a toddler and just go
through everything, so I think she's
to blame for this. Um and then
obviously when I was growing up I was
like a total girly girl so I loved
like Barbie's and all the Barbie
clothes and I used to like hand wash
all their clothes because I was like

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'They don't want to wear dirty
clothes, you know.' So I'd like very
diligently wash them all, hang them
out on a little kind of clothes rail
and everything and I think I was just
kind of obsessed with the way that
clothes can kind of change the person
that you are. So I think I've always
had a style that was a real mix and I
like that you can kind of wake up and
say 'Okay today I'm gonna go in all
black.' Or 'Today I'm gonna be really
colourful.'And you know clothes really
are a way to kind of express yourself
and I think there's a lot of power in
that in a world where you know you're
kind of made to feel like you need to
have certain things or be a certain
way and I think clothing is a way of
kind of pushing back against that and
saying 'Well what if I want to be that
person today but maybe be that person
tomorrow.' You know, there's nothing
wrong with that. So I think that kind
of kick started my interest in it and
I've just basically stayed obsessed
since then.
LUCY:
How has your work evolved since
starting your own company?
LOUISA:
Oooooh my work, in terms of like the
designs or..
LUCY:
Yeah.
LOUISA:
Okay, so I think when I first started
I was quite naïve. Um I didn't
understand a lot about the design
process because I don't have a design
background so I actually studied
Fashion Photography at Uni um, and
really didn't like it and then I went
and did a masters in Business which
was kind of completely different in a
way but obviously helped me in the
other areas. So I would just be like

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wow I love this dress I'm gonna take
this design and kind of copy it out
and then I'd sort of change lots of
things, Kind of make it a bit more
modern and then I thought I could just
go to you know a seamstress and just
say 'Make me this in this fabric.' And
now I've learnt that you know
different fabrics respond in different
ways, if a fabric is 2% different in
composition to another fabric it will
hang completely differently. It's
incredibly technical, incredibly
scientific um and you have to take
that into account when you're
designing because if you don't have an
unlimited budget you have to think
about 'Okay how long is this going to
take someone to put together?' So just
as an example, this blouse that I am
wearing...
Louisa points to her blouse
LOUISA:
... Is an old sample of a blouse
called the 'Rebecca' blouse because my
assistant at the time was called
Rebecca so I wanted to honor her with
that. Now in my head I was like that
would be amazing to have a blouse with
like dramatic sleeves and a big pussy
bow that you can wear in lots of
different ways and then it actually
came down to making it and the factory
was like 'This is such an annoying
garment, there is so many pieces,
there's pieces for the cuffs, for the
sleeves, for the pussy bow. It takes
up so much fabric, It takes up so much
time.' So you know it was one of those
things where I didn't even think about
the fact that it would be more
complicated to make, so you know we
got a few made and we might bring it
back, but actually the cost of making
it means that we're gonna have a
really hard time selling it. So I had
to go back and think 'Okay how can I
still get like the look that I want
but kind of simplify things to make it

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more manageable?' And build up to
those statement pieces that are going
to be more expensive to make but if
you have those customers that might be
willing to pay a bit more you can then
kind of start to feed them in. So I
think I've become a bit more aware of
the technical element.
LUCY:
That blouse is gorgeous by the way.
LOUISA:
Thank you very much! It's also got a
lot of water damage so that's why I'm
keeping it.
LUCY:
Do you think the increasing amount of
overseas brands coming to our shores
is a threat to local companies?
LOUISA:
Um I think it.. yeah I think it is but
I think it has been for a while. So we
first started to see manufacturing
moving overseas in the 1980s, everyone
moved things to the far east because
we didn't want to pay the high wages
in Europe, in the UK and I think you
know the long term thinking wasn't
really there to kind of say 'Ooooh,
this might make us quite dependent you
know, on companies that are sort of
far away.' So.. companies, countries
and companies that are far away and I
think we're really paying the price of
that because you know even the North
East used to have a garment trade you
know and now really the only place
that we have left is Barbour that
manufactures in the North East and it
was so impossible can I tell you to
find a manufacturer up here you know
in the area. It took me 18 months to
find someone basically and that was
almost working on it as a full time
job. Um, so I think there's a huge
skills gap now and it also means
there's a lack of opportunities for
people you know, and I really wanted

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to make in the Northeast because I
would love to be a tiny part of
something that helps to bring back
some jobs in that space for the area,
because working in fashion is hard you
know, being the garment technician,
being a machinist, being a seamstress
is hard and it is skilled labor. So I
think we've got it in our heads that
it isn't or it's something that we
should be above but I don't think
that's necessarily true and I think
there's a lot of like craftmanship
involved so.
LUCY:
Thank you, what responsibilities have
you taken on as creative director for
Studio Courtenay?
LOUISA:
So I guess my responsibilities is more
kind of overseeing the business rather
than doing the day to day stuff. So I
do a lot of fun things like looking at
trends, seeing what kind of colours
are coming, um I source the fabrics
still so I'm still in charge of kind
of finding the materials for things
but then I have kind of help on the
design side now. People that can do
technical packs, you know the
drawings, the illustrations so that's
great. Um and yeah, I try and do a lot
of the promotion and the marketing
myself aswell so I try and kind of get
in touch with journalists or you know
running the social media and stuff
like that, so that's the fun bit.
LUCY:
Yeah, the second question continues
with that saying what does an average
day in the life as creative director
for your company look like?
LOUISA:
So my average day is uh, if I'm kind
of spending it in the studio is I'll
probably come in, First thing I'll
have to do is emails, so boring but

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you know that's what it is. We always
look out for kind of press requests,
so we get an email everyday that kind
of gathers together what journalists
are looking for, so if there are any
in there that I think are relevant
I'll respond to those straight away
because it means that if they have a
5pm deadline or a 12pm deadline I can
get in there you know and have the
phone call, give them the quote or do
the interview you know and make sure
that we get that done for them. Um,
we'll package up any items, I'll kind
of look at the finances which is also
very stressful and depressing a lot of
the time but you know it's important
to stay on top of your books, so I
balance my books pretty much everyday
so matching up you know what I spend
with what's being reflected and we
kind of erm balance sheet and then
what's in the bank account and I think
I would like to try and have some more
time to be proactive. So I'd love to
have more time to do kind of shoots
and really have a play around with the
social media content as well. At the
moment, it's still a bit like well we
just have to respond to what's coming
in, so hopefully we'll get to a place
where we can be kind of proactive as
well as reactive. Um and then yeah in
the afternoon I tend to kind of run
any errands that I need to and I tend
to have a conversation with Sam who
helps me on designs to think about
okay what kind of products are doing
well, what aren't selling you know
should we reduce anything to try and
maybe shift it in a sale. So we kind
of have a think about the best way to
do that as well.
LUCY:
What is your favorite piece you've
designed?
LOUISA:
Oooooh, my favourite piece I've
designed. Well I do really like this

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blouse, I've already said this but we
also have a top called the 'Anna'
blouse which is more structured, so
it's not made from the silky fabric
like this, it's made from a cotton
canvas and it's kind of fitted but
it's not sort of too super tight . But
it's fitted, it's tailored, it's got
buttons down the front so you can wear
it as a light jacket or you can button
it up and wear it as a blouse and it's
got these kind of quite dramatic leg
of mutton sleeves and we did one in
this fabric that was a vintage piece
of fabric from the 1940s from France,
it was really beautiful, floral. And
then we basically, we rescued a load
of buttons from this factory that was
closing down and we found these
buttons that were gold and pink, and
the pink was the exact colour of the
flowers and it was just you know an
accidental thing but it was so perfect
and it was just amazing to kind of see
that design come to life from you know
this fabric that's nearly one hundred
years old and then these buttons that
we had rescued that were just going to
get thrown out, so yeah that was
really cool.
LUCY:
Do you find that a lot of your
customers come from the North East?
LOUISA:
None of my customers come from the
Northeast.
LUCY:
Really?
LOUISA:
Yeah, none at all which is strange. I
sell a lot to America, a lot to not
necessarily London but places like
Brighton and Bristol, which kind of
makes sense when you think about it.
It's got that sort of arty vibe to it,
maybe a little bit kind of cottage
core, hippie because obviously we have

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a lot of you know floral prints and
kind of frilly stuff. So yeah, none of
my customers are from the Northeast
which is a shame really, but I think
maybe just the style's a bit different
up here. I think people are quite into
their brands, but they're into brands
that are kind of more displayed and I
think sometimes the colours can put
people off a bit because they are
quite bold you know, they're not for
everyone and I did kind of a while ago
bring out a range of some sort of
pastel coloured stuff. Some tops, some
very simple blouses and they didn't
sell at all and I thought 'Do you know
what, that's because I went against my
usual vision and my ideas.' So I kind
of decided after that I thought 'No, I
don't have to be the brand for
everyone. I should just focus on doing
the thing that I really like the
best.' And then you know hopefully,
then those core customers will kind of
stay, stay loyal customers to us for
that reason.
LUCY:
Yeah and lastly, what do you think
makes your brand different from other
local companies?
LOUISA:
Ooooh so I definitely think that
there's lots of cool stuff going on
with sustainable fashion especially in
you know, everywhere really in Britain
at the minute but, even in the
Northeast there are some really
brilliant kind of sustainable local
brands. Where I think we're different
and kind of differentiate ourselves a
bit is that we do have that quite bold
and bright aesthetic. So, a lot of the
minimalist brands I see they're more
paired down you know sustainable
means, you know like beige's and
linens and it's quite sort of simple
shapes and that's absolutely fine but
that's just never been my sort of
thing. So I love that our brand is

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kind of saying 'Look you can be
sustainable but also dress really
colourful.' You know that is do-able
so I, I think that's maybe our unique
selling point. You know that we are
kind of making responsibly but you
don't have to sacrifice your sense of
fun in order to do that.
BARBOUR HEADQUARTERS
MONTAGE OF VIDEOS INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF BARBOUR HEADQUARTERS
MEDIUM SHOT
LUCY:
I even went and visited the Barbour
Headquarters building which is just
two and a half miles away from where
John Barbour first opened J Barbour &
Sons in 1894. Through 128 years the
company has remained North East based
and as of right now is the only
company still manufacturing in the
North East with their factory opening
in 1981 in Simonside, South Shields
where it remains to this day. From the
North East to the world, Barbour now
has retail presence in over 40
countries worldwide in countries like
Germany, Holland, Austria, France,
Japan, United States, Italy, Spain,
Argentina and New Zealand. Barbour is
a luxury and lifestyle brand that
designs, manufactures and markets
waxed cotton outerwear such as
clothing, footwear and accessories for
men, Women, Children and now even
dogs.
Ending credits.
(ENDS)

Fashion in the North East Script

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Fashion in the North East Script