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One London morning over Zoom, designer and sustainability advocate Christopher Raeburn is giving us a virtual video tour of the Raeburn Lab in Hackney Central Studios, a converted former Burberry textile factory that’s now his HQ.
“Within Raeburn, everything you see has either been remade from something else, recycled or organic cotton or merino wool, so the focus is reducing our impact on the environment,” says the down-to-earth designer who runs the lab and his Raeburn fashion line (both men’s and womenswear), as well as creatively helming outerwear giant Timberland. “We do super-cool things, dresses from air-break parachutes – actually lots of parachute pieces.” The studio is almost empty that day, with the UK amid another lockdown, but Raeburn usually has a team of about 20 working away, experimenting, designing, innovating and making.