our story
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Welcome to Breast Dressed! A brand of sustainable, fashion led maternity and breastfeeding wear. All designed and made ethically in the U.K!
With many of my friends on the baby band wagon, I was constantly being asked to design some cool and stylish maternity clothes. After searching the market high and low I realised there isn’t much out there at all. Unless you want a striped jersey dress clinging to you, or a frumpy wrap dress, what are you meant to do? This is where Breast Dressed was born and this brand has now become my baby! I have since gone on to have my own baby and it’s been amazing being able to test out my own products for myself.
I have always had a passion for designing functional clothing, clothes with a meaning and a purpose that solve a problem. So diving into the maternity space seemed like a challenge I couldn’t wait to get stuck into.
I wanted to create a collection of fun and stylish clothes for mums that could be worn throughout all stages of mum-hood, through pregnancy and beyond. I wanted them to have longevity and versatility and not just be worn for 9 months and then thrown away. We have created sustainable and versatile alternatives to fast fashion throw aways that can be worn all year round and for many years to come.
Breast Dressed styles work hard for the modern mum, they will support your growing bump, allow easy breastfeeding access should you need it and make you feel fabulously cool as a mum long after pregnancy. Yay to mum fashion! Finally!!
ETHICAL, LOCAL PRODUCTION
I have been working in the fashion industry for over 15 years and lived overseas in Hong Kong for nearly 6. I have experienced first hand the various levels of product development and production across the globe and my passion for ethical fashion with longevity has only grown. I am now living back in the UK and wanted to focus on making my products here so that I could build a close relationship with my supply chain and keep my carbon footprint to a minimum. And in turn help support other small businesses and our economy.
Breast Dressed is designed by myself and handmade on a made to order basis by wonderful freelance seamstresses in their home studios. This allows us to only produce what we need and not sit on unwanted stock. We have also recently started producing small batches in an ethical East London factory to help with demand. Soon we will be opening up a pre-order service to help further monitor closely the amount we are producing.
SUSTAINABILITY
I want to be open and transparent from the get go about all areas of my brand. We use natural fabrics such as washed linen and cotton, nickel free metal trims and buttons made from vegetable pulp and recycled cotton fibers. All are sourced from deadstock and/or independently run UK businesses. All of our packaging is fully sustainable – recycled hand-made stickers and hang tags, acid free tissue paper and compostable mailer bags.
NO MORE WASTE
Any scrap fabrics we end up with are used to make our ‘no waste scrunchies’, ‘Margot mummy collars’ and ‘mini me’ outfits to help keep our waste to a minimum.
RE:LOVED
We also have a small capsule collection called Re:Loved, where we source unwanted denim products and re-invent them to create new maternity and breastfeeding clothing. All profits from the Re:Loved collection are donated to the Hackney Baby Bank, a local charity to where our brand began that helps provide everyday essentials to families in need.
CHARITY
It was important to me that our styles are not only fun to wear, but they are also kind to the environment and give back to the community. We donate 1% of our yearly sales to the Clean Clothes Campaign, a charity that helps to improve working conditions for garment workers across the globe.
Pregnancy shouldn’t mean that you have to lose your identity and style, nor should you have to buy a new wardrobe that can only be worn when you have a bump or bigger boobs!
You can follow the breast dressed journey on our Instagram account @breast.dressed – please do tag your photos so I can see your styles in action! Join me on this crazy journey! :-)
Hester x
