Natural fabrics are at the heart of Poetry®. What started as a personal appreciation of natural fibres and the search for the best quality clothing by Poetry’s founder, are now the values that guide our fabric choices and their design.
We believe that great clothing is much more than just how it looks, how and what it is made of is incredibly important. The yarns and fabrics we use in our collections are carefully crafted to make garments that feel luxurious to wear and will be enjoyed for years to come
Developing our fabrics takes time. Selecting the yarns, considering the colours, reviewing the way in which the yarns are dyed as well as weaving or knitting the yarns to produce fabric, experimenting with different washing and finishing processes are only some of the steps we take to refine our fabrics.
Love for natural fibres
At Poetry® and our sister brand Wrap London®, we use almost entirely natural fibres in our collections - synthetic fibres make up only 0.61% of the materials we use.
Materials such as linen, cotton, wool and cashmere have been used in clothing for centuries and for good reasons. They feel good next to the skin and have a unique range of characteristics that can’t be found in synthetic materials. In a fashion world filled with uniform synthetic fabrics, we believe that there is no true replacement for the crisp feel of linen, the cool touch of silk, or the softness of cashmere. Only garments made from natural fibres gain more character the longer they are used and adapt to their wearers’ shape and habits.
The love for natural fibres is what makes our clothing desirable and unites Poetry’s team, their suppliers and customers.
Quality in everything we create
Our pursuit and exploration of natural fibres surrounds us with suppliers and makers with similar values bringing exceptional quality to everything we design and create. The best suppliers for a particular material tend to be those located where the material has a long history and is part of the culture, such as alpaca from Peru, silk from China or embroidery from India.
Tradition plays an important role in the development and production of beautiful clothing but so too does technology and our small group of suppliers blend traditional expertise with the latest technology to keep improving their products.
Our suppliers know fibres and their properties well and advise us so we choose the best quality yarns and materials available. It can mean having a higher price than other brands, but we trust our customers recognise the difference and appreciate it. We will always use the best version of the material instead of taking shortcuts to reduce the price. Our genuine interest in exploring and investing in new and distinct natural fabrics is what sets us apart.
The craft of developing new fabrics
Whether it is a long-forgotten tradition that we can rediscover or developing entirely new fabrics, we are always looking for new textures, qualities or finishes to offer to our customers.
Many of our favourite fabrics, such as heavy linen for trousers which requires unusually coarse linen thread or high twist linen fabric that provides an unusually lively feel, are materials we have developed by working closely with our suppliers who are absolute experts in their fields.
There cannot be enough said of the craft, expertise, and sheer knowledge that the people making Poetry’s fabric and clothes have. It might not be always a story of entirely handmade items, but each garment has been handled by multiple hands of experts who have worked with fibres, yarns and fabrics for years.
We take pride in pushing the boundaries of how natural fabrics look and feel and enjoy every part of the process.
Reducing our environmental impact
The Poetry® brand was created long before the harmful impact of the fashion industry was widely known, but our love for nature and recognition of its importance has been with us from the beginning. Long-term thinking is one of our core values and cannot be viewed separately from the health of the planet.
Although there are no easy answers to the best way the fashion industry can reduce its impact, we believe that using only natural fibres in timeless clothing is one of the best ways to enjoy fashion with the least environmental impact. The personal philosophy of Poetry’s founder - “buy once, buy best” is applied by designing high-quality clothes to enjoy for years to come.
As well as our no-synthetics policy, we are also aware that whilst natural fibres don’t contribute to the use of fossil fuels, they still can have a negative impact on the environment. Where possible, we reduce the impact by choosing organically or responsibly grown fibres that travel the least distance to the manufacturing sites. We are on a continuous journey to improve the sourcing and logistics of the materials we use to reduce our environmental footprint to the minimum.
Caring of the welfare of animals
We currently use wool, cashmere, alpaca, mohair, and silk animal fibres. In the past, the partnership between herdsmen and their flocks has provided clothing for people living in colder climates all over the world and we believe these are still the best materials for warm, soft and comfortable clothing. We source only from reputable suppliers that treat their animals well and we are continuously improving our monitoring methods.
