Good Ancestor
We produce creatively reworked, affordable clothing. Aiming to expand upcycled clothing beyond a niche market, our all-gender clothing is made to appeal to generation X. We rework preloved garments and deadstock fabrics with creative techniques such as machine embroidery, applique, and lino and screen printing to generate wardrobe staples.
We believe that upcycling can provide a transitional solution to the textile waste problem. It can contribute to extending the lifetime of discarded textiles as technology moves to develop more sustainable materials and design solutions.
Our strengths lie in our creativity and passion for expanding reuse of existing textiles in the UK. Reuse has a much lower carbon footprint than recycling. Additionally, our work continues heritage crafts. We have a City and Guilds certificate. We are located in Hulme, Manchester, and sell our products both online and in person at makers markets, allowing us to engage directly with our customers.
- Listing ID: 3484
- Contact: Susanne Hofmann
- What are your aspirations and plans for the future?: We would like to contribute to generating a resilient and future-proof reuse ecosystem of businesses and community initiatives focused on reworking, repairing, swapping and recycling of pre- and post-consumer textile waste as well as other materials. We aspire to transform UK clothing production through a structural cooperativisation of the sector, transforming what currently exists as a highly hierarchical system of production — divided in high-paid designers and low-paid makers — into one in which the creative design and making merge and cooperatively organised designer-makers create styles of their own, generating a satisfactory experience and meaningful work for all. We believe that this transformation is necessary for a full-scale return of clothing production in the UK and to make the sector attractive for a new generation of creative garment designer-makers. Most current visions of sustainability and the return of textile production and garment making in the UK do not envision deep, structural changes to the sector. We think that a cooperatively organised textile and clothing industry, in which designer-makers maintain independence and determination over their creative making, can contribute to boosting the sector and attract young creatives of diverse communities.
- What types of projects are you interested in working on through Future Fashion Factory?: Largely, a data-based and logistical infrastructure that maps textile waste flows —connecting available supplies with interested buyers— and makes reuse initiatives and businesses viable is still lacking. We could envision to work with scientists who would be able to generate a data-based internet platform to map textile waste flows. That could be data scientists, textile technologists, material scientists, IT specialists, logistics specialists, web designers and others. In addition, we would be willing to support reuse-focused educational and campaigning efforts, and collaborations with brands (to rework or repurpose surplus stock) and other craft textile reuse initiatives, including natural dyers. We would also like to be part of any research endeavour directed at how the UK clothing and textile sectors can become simultaneously sustainable as well as diversified and democratised industries that provide both attractive salaries and continuous creative development for designer-makers.