All about ‘Made By SJP’ by Sarah-Jane Pike

‘Fashion is life-enhancing, and like everything that gives us pleasure it is worth doing well’ – Vivienne Westwood

At ‘Made by SJP’, we believe in doing well - doing well for the consumer; doing well for female empowerment; and most importantly doing well for the environment. Why should our world pay an unnecessary price? This question has continued to plague me throughout my early adulthood and has ignited a passion to create garments of clothing without adding to the ever-concerning issues around modern consumerism. We all know the pitfalls associated with fast fashion (if you are reading this blog then I’m certain to be preaching to the converted!) - The rush to produce new garments quickly often results in poor working conditions and low wages for factory workers, while the massive levels of textile waste generated by the fast fashion industry contributes to levels of environmental degradation that might not be reversable if allowed to continue at its current pace. Not to mention the culture of disposability that results in the rapid production of inexpensive, poorly made clothing that mirrors current trends. It was all extremely concerning to me and I made my clothing choices accordingly whenever I could.

My business was born from a period of flux and although cliché, could be put down to the old saying ‘when life gives you lemons, make lemonade’! As with a lot of people, the Covid-19 pandemic completely changed my direction and I was lucky enough to turn the challenges I faced into opportunities. Before the pandemic I worked as a nanny and having found myself at a loose end during the first UK lockdown in 2020, I started volunteering for my local hospital – specifically sourcing old duvet covers to create scrub bags for the staff to store their items in.
This is where my inspiration stemmed, blossoming into a sustainable clothing brand that provides high quality clothes using repurposed and recycled fabrics. I could see there was a growing trend towards sustainable fashion practices that
emphasised quality, longevity and ethical production and recognised the benefit in carving my own niche in the sustainable clothing space.
With textile production alone attributing to 1.2 billion tons of CO2 annually and 20% of the World’s water wastage, the garments we make at Made by SJP eliminate the need to produce virgin materials by salvaging unwanted fabrics from landfill or incinerators - Thus providing the consumer with a guilt-free way of shopping for the perfect dress.

At ‘Made by SJP’, we source our fabrics in a variety of dierent ways: I purchase second hand duvet covers and bedding sets from charity shops, jumble sales and car boots. I also gather donations from the community and consumer specific material. This means customers can send in their own preloved fabrics, sometimes something sentimental, a charity shop find or maybe their own old bedding. We love pattern and colour here - from stripes to florals and everything in between – the brighter the better! Our customers can choose from the vast array of beautiful fabrics that we have already saved from landfill, or they can send us their own pre- loved fabric. We then use the selected fabric to create a garment of their choice, incorporating our optional elements which best suit their size and body style. My first design was the versatile Warwick dress which can be adapted to three lengths with multiple sleeve

Our collection now currently holds 10 core designs, all of which can be customised: the consumers have the choice to have their item made to a standard dress size or to their specific measurements; they can choose mixing fabrics in the sleeve, collar and frill detail; and they can select the sleeve type. Our best seller is the Wilton Dress with the statement collar. Seeing how popular the dress was with
my customers; I evolved the design to a series of customisable tops with the collar as a

We focus on creating garments that leave our customers looking good and feeling great whilst supporting ‘slow fashion’, meaning that we spend more time transforming once-loved fabrics into customer specific, unique pieces. Each garment is handmade in my studio in Hampshire, and although I do have a few ready to wear items listed on the website, I don’t mass or over produce anything. Making to order ensures the customer gets what they really want and is therefore more likely to wear and treasure the garment for longer than they would a cheap piece of fast fashion that may not fit well or feel fabulous. We are passionate about empowering our customers with a sense of identity, individuality and confidence.

The styles available are always evolving and last year Made by SJP collaborated with Preloved Magazine Columnist and My English Country Cottage influencer Rebecca Lovett to design the most beautiful Apron. Sticking with the same ethos, recycling old unused curtains into something practical but beautiful, the aprons feature a Japanese style crossover back and fantastically practical deep pockets. They have been a huge hit and have just been restocked for autumn on my website - they’re worth checking out! Each pocket has also been lovingly embroidered by Workwear Innovation; a family run business in Salisbury, Wiltshire who are striving to be more sustainable too. They were a perfect choice for this collaboration, and I’ve since started using their services to embroider our popular customised preloved jumpers and shirts.

Made by SJP has a pop-up-shop on the beautiful High Street in Stockbridge, Hampshire. Not far from Winchester, Stockbridge, in my opinion, is such a gem. It’s one of the rare highstreets that still has a soul – the community have been so welcoming to me since opening last year. It’s well worth a visit! The best part about having a bricks and mortar space is that the customer can come and choose their preferred fabric– although I do my upmost to do justice to the fabrics when I photograph them for the website, it’s always a real treat to be able to see and feel the fabrics in real life!
If you’re not local to Hampshire, have no fear! Our website www.madebysjp.com is regularly updated with all the fabrics we have available and you can place your order here, including a handy tool with all the customisation options for each design. If you have a piece of your own fabric that you’d like to breathe new life into, feel free to contact us to place custom order. You can sign up to my newsletters for all the latest news and exclusive discounts there too. If you get to the end of this blog you’ll see a special discount code for you too!
Made by SJP’s Instagram account is also a great place to get all the latest news and to see all the beautiful individual garments made up and being worn in real life. There’s obviously a lot of my face on there but I’ve also been lucky enough to work with some fabulous influencers since Made by SJP was created. Sara Thomas (@saralouisethomas) was the first influencer who really got my brand off the ground, while Claudia Berresford (@claudia_berresford), Astrid (@astridiwantyouinmylife) and Lottie Drynan (@lottiedrynan) have been perfect advocates and models for my designs – go check out my grid for some inspiration! I always upload any new creations to my stories, as well as any sale items so it’s worth giving me a follow.

Use code ‘willow&eve’ for 15% off anything on my website!

Sarah - Jane Pike