Mulberry just released a genderless range of low-impact outerwear.
The 'Softie Outerwear' collection, which drops today, comprises eight designs: three jackets, a gilet, and two coats, (with the pièce de résistance being a hooded cape design), as well as a scarf and skirt. "The Softie quilted bomber, shell jacket, hooded puffer and scarf are all part of a genderless, unisex proposition," the brand explained.
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The sustainable outerwear features in the brand's Wild Within SS23 campaign
The 'Mulberry Softie' offering has evolved into this new outerwear collection, fusing puffy functionality with a fashion forward sensibility, and most importantly sustainability. Since its launch in February 2022, the Softie bag quickly became a fan favourite and emblematic of Mulberry's new contemporary design ethos. "Now its signature details – like the distinctive puffy quilting – have been organically translated into a capsule of tactile outerwear… A natural evolution of the Softie bags, the ready-to-wear possesses the same huggable, textured tactility," they continued.
Every piece in the collection is padded with recycled silk and the garment's outers are crafted from recycled nylon, which is representative of 'Mulberry's Made to Last' initiative wherein the brand has pledged to use low-impact materials to offset environmental damage proliferated by the fashion industry. Fashion brands, having cottoned onto the fact that many of us are looking to shop more sustainably, are not always transparent about their practices. Sustainable fashion expert Natalie Binns told Hello! Fashion, "It's difficult to define 'truly' or 100% sustainable fashion as all new fashion has an impact on the environment. To reduce the impact of our clothing we need to make the most of it which means only buying what we need, rewearing it as much as possible, repairing it and recirculating it when we are finished with it."
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The Softie Quilted Hooded Cape
Mulberry for their part are doing their best to be as transparent about their sustainability efforts as possible. For SS22, 78% of Mulberry’s non-leather products across Bag and Small Leather Goods categories featured, as their main component, materials with a lower environmental or social impact than their conventional alternatives. "We continue to develop, trial and introduce new materials with our suppliers as we head towards our goal of 100%." The brand said in an open letter last year, "The reality is that despite a proliferation of industry initiatives – several of which we are a part of - the fashion and textiles sector is still estimated to produce 10% of annual Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions and change is not happening fast enough. We believe it’s time to reimagine our business as regenerative and circular at every stage of our supply chain, from field to wardrobe. To do this we have to be willing to ask ourselves some difficult questions and to respond with honesty and intention, even if we don’t have all the answers."
The sustainable initiative is in keeping with the british heritage brands origins, in 1971 Mulberry's founder Roger Saul began making leather accessories at his kitchen table using just offcuts and scraps.
The Softie Quilted Wrap Skirt in recycled nylon
Mulberry's signature 'Postman Lock' fastenings are of course peppered throughout the capsule collection, which is available in a pared back palette of black, khaki and tobacco brown with prices starting from £345. Also featured in its latest SS23 campaign is a series of micro bags in diminutive iterations of their iconic Alexa, Bayswater, Amberley and Sadie bags, which we have a feeling the style set will also be early adopters of this season.
Cosy for winter yet lightweight, the coats also transition seamlessly between country and city, encapsulating the synergy between the brand's rural Somerset heritage and a new modern urban slant. According to Mulberry, they pieces are designed to be "an integral part of a forever wardrobe", and that's a circular message we can certainly get behind.
The Softie Outerwear collection launches globally in stores and on mulberry.com from 3rd October.
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