LONDON, Friday, 19th September 2025: JCA Fashion: Entrepreneurship in Design & Brand Innovation learner Grace Emerson is set to debut Rethreaded, a sustainable streetwear brand. Presenting during the JCA | London Fashion Academy’s MA Show over London Fashion Week on Friday 19th September, Rethreaded’s debut show will showcase the first six looks of the brand as a cohesive collection.
The Journey Until Now
Proudly presenting Rethreaded, is Grace Emerson, 22, a multidisciplinary designer from Warwickshire, England. Rethreaded is a sustainable streetwear label crafting generational garments from damaged and disregarded textiles. Rethreaded champions the art of reworking, restitching and remastering one-of-a-kind designs that celebrate craftsmanship, individuality and the beauty of imperfection.
Rooted in her countryside upbringing, surrounded by nature, farming heritage and homegrown produce, Emerson embraces a “make do and mend” ethos. Her design philosophy embodies sustainability, resourcefulness and an organic approach to
materiality that has been deeply woven into her design consciousness since a young age.
With a prior Bachelor’s degree in Branding and Communication, Emerson’s first year of garment construction at the JCA culminates in ‘Fields Familiar’, showcasing the first garments she has ever crafted.
Sustainability
Working entirely with second-hand fabrics, offcuts and surplus materials from local suppliers, British wool farmers and charity organisations the brand thrives on the culture of crafting from the existing. Promoting a circular design philosophy with a desire to organically approach textiles in their own lifetime. Signs of age are not concealed but instead elevated into integral elements of each piece, adding depth and authenticity. Emerson’s approach celebrates clothing as living, evolving artefacts, with each intervention enriching design narrative and deepening sentimentality.
The constraints of working with surplus, second-hand fabrics and offcuts foster Emerson’s resourcefulness, creating a process where the fabric itself dictates shape, scale, and ultimately the final outcome. This makes each transformation unique, ensuring that every piece is entirely unrepeatable and closely tied to the qualities and quantity of its materials.
“Rethreaded is a response to fashion’s culture of disposability,” says Emerson. “The label challenges conventional ideas of perfection and ownership. Each garment is designed to grow more personal, meaningful and valuable over time. Promoting a creative community that engages both the designer and the wearer in the lifecycle of the garment.”
‘Fields Familiar’, Rethreaded 1st Collection, by Grace Emerson.
Emerson’s debut collection redefines waste as resource and imperfection as beauty.
‘Fields Familiar’ explores the fusion of raw agricultural workwear’s functionality and resourcefulness with bold streetwear silhouettes, influenced by Emerson’s countryside heritage and personal expression. The collection emphasizes textile longevity and authentic craftsmanship. Tears and natural signs of wear are embraced as part of each garment’s story, where repair and transformation enrich design and deepen sentimentality. Visible mending, hand-stitching and garment manipulation revive undervalued materials into unique meaningful pieces. Constructed to honour the natural world’s remnants, the collection ensures every offcut is carefully preserved and repurposed into considered design elements. In doing so, each garment becomes a unique record of its materials’ past. Checked cottons and heavy-duty denims nod to the tradition of agricultural workwear, while natural tones of earthy browns, greens and beiges reflect Rethreaded’s connection to nature and its commitment to environmental responsibility.
Elevated simplicity is featured throughout the collection, expressed through tailored pleating and concealed pockets. Look 2 presents a reconstructed denim jacket with ruched sleeves, distinctive craftsmanship, detailed hand-stitching and embroidery. Paired with textured shorts made from torn cotton shirts and bedsheets, layered and knotted, with original shirt panel detailing.
Additionally, Look 4 showcases a double-yarn open knit jumper crafted from British Alpaca wool, with vintage farming jeans patched with offcuts from the collection and adorned with the Japanese mending technique, Sashiko, in a hand-stitched check pattern. Committed to working with natural materials authentic to heritage, Emerson partnered with British Alpaca company EKO ALPACA, spending two days at their Somerset farm. There, Emerson worked closely with the team to digitally design and manufacture the alpaca knit, whilst also sourcing offcuts that were repurposed into an additional piece showcased in Look 1.
Throughout developing the collection, Emerson gained valuable insight from industry professionals. Notably, she received early mentorship from Orsola De Castro, a pioneer in sustainable fashion, whose guidance supported her first steps into the industry.
