By Giulia Zanatta and Alex Cimpeanu
Sabinna Rachimova is a young and innovative designer who has developed a sustainable fashion brand. The Russian-born founder of the SABINNA brand was a panellist at London Metropolitan University’s fashion newsweek, Covid and Me: Do We Still Care What We Wear?
Dressed in a hoodie, Rachimova is in her studio in London, where sewing machines, clothing racks and a gorgeous Swiss cheese plant feature her Zoom background. But while she might look casual, her achievements are anything but: just over a year ago, she even featured in Forbes “30 Under 30” list for her impressive accomplishments as a young entrepreneur.
SABINNA creates ethical products with the aim to explore sustainability beyond the product. “It’s all about sustainable products and conscious experiences,” she says. “The idea is to have an educational approach, to give people an understanding of what sustainability means.”
The entire garment industry is “built on exploitation”, she told students and guests at the fashion newsweek debate. “We can vote with our wallet – it is the only way to help garment workers.”
More than words
The brand has put its money where its mouth is: SABINNA has developed two podcasts and a series of webinars explaining the background behind the products: how they are shipped, how the team is treated and what happens with the garments after they are purchased.
“It was a no-brainer for me that I wanted to create a sustainable brand,” she says. “But just because something is locally made doesn’t mean it’s ethically made.”
As a child she was fascinated and inspired by the world of handcraft thanks to her grandmother, who taught her how to sew and embroider garments. During that time she understood that the world of fashion would become her job.
“My kind of entry ticket to fashion was from a maker’s perspective,” she says. “I never felt as happy as when I was creating things.”
When she was just 14 years old, the young designer started to work in the fashion field, eventually doing many different jobs for retail big brands like Christian Dior.
She explains: “I tried to get as many jobs as I could to get closer to this field and the people who work there.”
Covid has thrown up a lot of questions but Rachimova says it has presented a perfect time for all fashion businesses to reevaluate and look again at their business concepts and models, to better understand the demands of their customers and also rewind their strategy choices.
“Now is the time to reconsider what everyone really needs and what not in the fashion field,” she says adding that it’s an ongoing process.
She is optimistic that the sustainable fashion movement is here to stay, rather than be just another trend. “A sustainable brand is one that keeps education itself and understands that new solutions are always becoming available,” she told the panel.
Visit https://www.sabinna.com for more information.
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