Award-winning sustainable textile company, Kalopsia Collective, celebrates its 10th anniversary with an expansion of its premises from a 1,000 square feet studio in Leith to an 8,000 square feet warehouse in Dunfermline with a shop, new contract wins, including Xbox and The Hoxton Group and the creation of three new jobs.
The company, which specialises in the design and manufacturing of bespoke clothing, accessories and homeware, using a sustainable circular economy model to help reduce waste in the textile industry, recently welcomed HRH The Princess Royal, President of the UK Fashion & Textile Association, to officially open their new site.
Now they will present their story at Love Your Business on Thursday morning.
The company was founded by couple Nina Falk, a former fashion designer and ballet dancer from Sweden who has made garments for a range of Swedish celebrities including Pernilla August and graphic designer, Adam Robertson. The pair took on their first employee in 2016 and due to continuous growth, now employs seven staff and will be able to create three new roles over the next six months.
Kalopsia, which was named ‘Ethical Green Business of the Year 2019’ and ‘Made in Scotland Manufacturer 2018-2019’ also offers an ‘Assemble’ service using fabric provided by clients to produce white label accessories, including ties, bags, dresses and cushions.
Clients across both services include the V&A Dundee, Royal Academy of Arts, Bauhus, Harris Tweed, Halley Stevenson, Kitt McCall, and latterly hats, bags and accessories for Xbox, working alongside Gordon Nicolson Kiltmakers.
The ‘Assemble’ products have been worn by many famous people including the broadcaster and historian David Attenborough, Claudia Schiffer, Little Mix band members and former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Over the years, Kalopsia have continued to ensure the ethos of the business, which became a social enterprise in 2016, is sustainable, ethical and strives to reduce the environmental impact of the textile industry.
To help grow its ethical textile manufacturing infrastructure, support local employment and the circular economy whilst reducing textile waste the couple are currently looking for £100k investment through their Kalopsia Collective Bonds.
The funding will also allow them to continue to run their student placement programme which they founded in 2016, working alongside the Fashion Technology department at Heriot-Watt University to help graduates find work.
The couple, who have shared the story of their circular economy business model, growth plans and commitment to sustainability at various events over the years, including at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, will be speaking at the networking event, Love Your Business at Black Ivy Hotel in Bruntsfield, Edinburgh on Thursday, 27 April.
Adam said: “We are delighted to be able to celebrate our 10th anniversary with the opening of our new premises in Fife, officially by Princess Anne, which was such a fantastic opportunity to celebrate our industry and our new space.
“Being eight times bigger than our studio in Leith, it means we can create even more sustainable local employment opportunities to help us deliver contracts for clients like Xbox and Harris Tweed and allow us to continue to grow the UK’s textile manufacturing infrastructure, whilst driving forward our mission to reducing textile waste and ensuring that the circular economy is embedded in everything we do.
“Being invited to talk at Love Your Business will give us a great opportunity to share our journey so far, our sustainable goals and exciting plans for the future.”
Michelle Brown, founder of Love Your Business, which was established five years ago to help businesses build their network, get support and share contacts and referrals, said:
“I’m absolutely delighted that Nina and Adam from Kalopsia Collective will be the guest speakers at Love Your Business networking club this month.
“I’ve followed their journey over the last decade, their growth, impressive contract wins and awards, and ongoing mission to make environmental changes in the industry and provide jobs and placements for students to keep the design and manufacturing of textiles in Scotland.
“At the event, they’ll be sharing their inspiring entrepreneurial story over the last decade, including all the highs and lows, biggest achievements and also their exciting plans for the future.”
Speakers at Love Your Business, which runs on the last Thursday of every month, include Marie Owen, founder of LS Production, Scott Hastings, Larah Bross, founder of Bross Bagels, Paul Tasner, the Californian based eco-entrepreneur and founder of PulpWorks, Alice Thompson, co-founder of Social Bite and motivational coach, and Chris van der Kuyl, chairman and co-founder of 4J Studios.
Every year Love Your Business supports a different charity which has included Make 2nds Count, Support in Mind Scotland, Invisible Cities, Epilepsy Scotland and this year, Fighting Against Cancer Edinburgh, FACE, who receive proceeds from ticket sales and PR/marketing support for a year. Tickets for the event on Thursday, 27 April are here.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
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