Wait – Has Prince Charles Really Just Launched His Own Fashion Collection?

Prince Charles has done something that very few royals have done before him. The passionate environmentalist – and lifelong supporter of sustainability – is adding ‘fashion’ to his list of extracurricular interests with the launch of his very own clothing line, a collaboration between YOOX Net-a-Porter, the online fashion retailer, and his charity, The Prince’s Foundation.

The 18-piece womenswear and menswear capsule, available from today with profits going to The Prince's Foundation, is the culmination of a project and training programme called The Modern Artisan. Six students from Italy’s Politecnico di Milano, who work within a research laboratory called Fashion in Process (FiP), led the design, while the manufacturing was left to artisans training in small batch production skills at Dumfries House, Ayrshire, the headquarters of The Prince’s Foundation. The majority of the collection has been crafted by hand in the estate’s Textiles Training Centre, with the artisans honing technical skills such as industrial sewing, pattern drafting and quality control.

‘I’ve been enormously impressed by the efforts, the ideas and the vision shown by the artisans from the UK and Italy. Hopefully they will take away a great deal of skill and understanding of sustainable approaches to design and manufacturing that they can apply to their own businesses or future careers. The key for me is to rediscover the importance that nature plays, understand where natural materials come from and how they can be used in exciting and innovative ways. After all, nature is the source of everything,’ said Prince Charles.

The man is famous for still wearing a pair of shoes he bought when he was just 20 years old - Oxfords from John Lobb in St James’s - so naturally both timelessness and durability were key considerations when choosing the collection’s materials. Cashmere and wool were sourced from Johnstons of Elgin, whose knitwear mill is based in Hawick, Scotland, while fully traceable organic eco-silk came from Italy’s Centro Seta. Each garment has a ‘digital ID’, a clever device being used by several sustainable fashion brands to both increase transparency and tell a garment’s story, from who designed it and who made it to care recommendations.

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