The latest brand to drop at The Norah Store is Manchester made Grey Milk. We chatted to designer and founder Gwen Harris to find out all about the brand and the process of idea to reality.
Meet the Designer
Grey Milk is the brainchild of designer and maker Gwen Harris. Gwen studied Fashion Design in Nottingham and after stints at working for various companies, decided to start her own venture of curated collections of sustainably made gorgeous garments.
We chatted to Gwen about how Grey Milk came about.
Her answer? 'I always wanted to do something creative but I wasn't sure what, I was equally interested in music and fashion, and they still go hand in hand when i design now. I grew up around loads of friends who were in bands. We were learning how to express ourselves and i think fashion & music were both really fun ways to do that. I had a go at both, I made a cool track for Girlboss on netflix, then I really went on to find my own fashion design aesthetic and haven't stopped since. i worked as a print designer for a while after graduating from BA fashion design at NTU and then started working on Grey Milk, and then launched around a month ago.
And when asked about her style icons?
Sustainable practice
Sustainability and ethical practice is sewn into the ethos of Grey Milk. When we saw the launch of Grey Milk's first collection 'In Bloom' with its oversized shapes and 60s floral prints we knew it would be the perfect fit for The Norah Store.
Grey Milk incorporates sustainable practice into their design and manufacture process in multiple ways. Grey Milk uses a made to order model, meaning that they only produce what the customer demand. This means no surplus fabric or stock goes to waste, which is a huge issue in the fashion industry at large.
The Joanie Trousers - shop here
Furthermore, no animal products of any kind are used in Grey Milk garments (no fur, leather, wool, hair or silk, or fish derived glues). Grey Milk is 100% cruelty free and vegan.
The prints are all designed in house, so they won't be found anywhere else! The printing process Grey Milk uses is water free, non toxic and eco friendly, compared to traditional dyeing processes which in order to dye 1 tonne of fabric, 200 tonnes of water is required.
Many of the fabrics Grey Milk use are natural, organic and recyclable — by next drop, they are committing to making all of their fabrics natural. They are trialling some new suppliers that are able to cater to my sustainable printing needs and can’t wait to roll this out next drop.
In addition, all Grey Milk packaging and branding are recyclable and all fabric waste is recycled into packaging, trims and small accessories.