Designer only manufactures sustainable clothing as it sells, reducing waste

Lola Faturoti is using Resonance's cloud-based platform to create only the pieces that will be purchased

Spotted: Nigerian-born designer Lola Faturoti is known for her colourful, African-inspired designs. She had long wanted to produce denim clothing but was put off by the large order sizes needed, and the huge amounts of waste involved in printing on denim. Now, she is partnering with Resonance, a garment manufacturing company that is working to eliminate inventory in fashion, creating only the pieces that will be purchased.

Faturoti uses Resonance’s cloud-based platform to print her designs on organic and biodegradable denim, using 40 per cent less ink and 50 per cent less water than conventional methods. Savings are made from the item being produced only after a customer has placed an order, eliminating the manufacturing of items that never sell.

Using the platform, Faturoti produces one sample of each of her designs, then manufactures them as they’re purchased. By eliminating minimum orders, it is also very easy to ditch designs that aren’t selling without generating excess garments and waste. It also speeds up the design process, allowing designers to tinker with different colours and patterns in order to see what sells. In addition to digital printing, Resonance also laser cuts all materials and uses only organic fibres.

Faturoti was happy to be invited onto the Resonance platform, after wishing to print on denim for some time. She explained that, “It’s very difficult to create a printed denim. I’ve been researching this since around 2006. Yes, you can find people who will do it, but you’d have to do it in China. Their minimum is 5,000 per unit. Then there’s material and water waste, and I don’t want to do that.”

There is a growing realisation that something needs to be done about the vast amount of waste involved in fashion and garment manufacturing. Designers are starting to respond, and Springwise has spotted innovations such as a zero-waste fashion company and a platform that allows brands and consumers to trace the sustainability of the entire manufacturing chain. 

Explore more: Fashion & Beauty Innovations | Sustainability Innovations