Introducing SFW Hub: Crystal Palace
Introducing our Hub partners in Crystal Palace, Jess and Hana!
Crystal Palace is one of London’s best places for vintage shops and is home to lots of people who love second-hand, homemade, repurposed and mended clothing.
Local residents have joined together to create a truly community-led programme for Sustainable Fashion Week.
Among us are grandmothers who knit and stitch, bespoke dressmakers, celebrated textile artists, hobbyists with creative flair, and South London’s hippest fashion influencers. With everything happening in and around ‘The Triangle’ of local streets, you’ll find great charity shops, vintage traders, gallery spaces, makers’ studios and rails of fashion finds.
The SFW community hub in Crystal Palace is led by Jess and Hana, who met through this project and are supported by many others giving their time, skills and energy.
Jess has lived in Crystal Palace for 16 years and raised her family here. She volunteers in a local charity shop and is a dedicated mender of clothes. Her professional expertise is in communications, having worked in the third sector for more than 20 years, mostly on environmental campaigns and community-led change.
Hana is an environmental campaigner, vintage fashion lover, vegan influencer, DJ and podcast presenter. She moved to Crystal Palace in 2018 and has worked on the Crystal Palace Festival, Attic Art Club and as community events lead for a local radio station. Professionally, she works as a management consultant within the NHS where she is a sustainability and social value lead.
Jess and Hana did not know each other before they decided to co-organise Sustainable Fashion Week in Crystal Palace. They quickly discovered a shared enthusiasm for our area’s vibrant community atop south London’s biggest hill, where five London boroughs meet, and an unstoppable urge to showcase the vintage, pre-loved and handmade delights.
Jess says:
“If you haven’t been to Crystal Palace before, you may well have seen the landmark radio transmitter positioned at the top of the Crystal Palace hill and visible across London. We’re easy to get to on the overground Windrush Line, and train services from Victoria and London Bridge. Once here there are lots of cafes and restaurants to enjoy. If you have your knitting or sewing with you, pop into the Brown & Green brunch kitchen, to get a half-price hot drink and pastry during Sustainable Fashion Week (Monday - Thursday).
During the final weekend of SFW, our event coincides with the Crystal Palace Artists Open House so we’re doing all we can to inspire local creativity. On Saturday 28 Sept there’s a Stash Swap where you can exchange or buy new-to-you fabrics, zips, yarns, buttons and trimmings, to inspire new projects or help you complete anything unfinished.
Finally on Sunday 29 September we’re wrapping up Sustainable Fashion Week with The Power of Repair free drop-in session to discover or improve mending skills. With the help of local experts - including Greener & Cleaner - you can try out knitting, crochet, darning, making patches and using a sewing machine. If you have started on a project and are stuck, or if you aren’t sure how to tackle a tricky mend we’ll be there with friendly guidance, tools and materials to help you make a creative mend or learn a new technique.”