Harriet Eccleston: The sustainable Yorkshire clothes maker continuing a family tradition stretching back generations

It’s one of the reasons Harriet Eccleston, whose clothing brand goes by the same name, felt compelled to continue in a family tradition of tailors, drapers and milliners stretching back generations.

“It’s quite a personal thing,” she says. “The garments that you wear are one of the first things that people see about you and I guess (they) interpret your characteristics or your personality through your choice of clothing and that has always interested me - the emotion, the personality that clothes can bring out.”

Working out of her one room workshop in the Albyn Works, a former factory building in Sheffield’s Kelham Island, Harriet creates womenswear with sustainability and heritage at its core.

From ideation and fabric cutting all the way through to hand stitching buttons and packaging items, Harriet’s head, heart and hands are behind it all.

The finest British cottons and wools are taken and combined with a soft colour palette to create elegant garments with a classic versatility.

Yet the reason Harriet’s creations stand out is beyond their aesthetic. Examine them more closely and you find storytelling and tradition woven into every piece.

The influence of Harriet’s ancestry is evident throughout her business. “Fashion is in my blood, their stories are in my heart,” reads her website.

Scattered amid the fabric swatches and sketches on the work surfaces and pin boards of her workshop are black and white photos of a moustachioed man immaculately turned out regardless of the scene he appears in. The man’s name is E.D. Soulsby and he’s Harriet’s great great grandfather.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Soulsby, owned and ran a menswear shop in the industrial heartlands of Northumbria.

“It was in the family for generations - everybody mucked in and was part of it. My granny spent a lot of time there until she was married and she told me a lot of stories. They specialised in quality menswear clothing and the idea was they were pieces that would last,” she explains.

The family shop and her wider ancestral past provides an endless trove of inspiration for Harriet’s work.

Take her signature Eddi jacket - perhaps the piece that best encapsulates both the practicality and sentiment of her designs.

There’s one hanging in the corner of the workshop. It’s what Harriet wears everyday on her short walk through the industrial streets of Kelham Island to and from work.

A long navy coat, made with water resistant cotton, a strong sculpted collar, large practical pockets and stand out orange buttons, its conception sparked from a photo of Soulsby playing with his family on the beach in a full three-piece suit.

“I just think that it's so evocative,” she says. “I wanted to capture that element and produce something that was really hard wearing. Something you can throw on and look smart in but you can wear throughout the year regardless of what you’re doing."

A crucial ingredient towards achieving the desired effect came from another historical reference. The Eddi jacket has a large slit down its back - a feature Harriet borrowed from the jackets postal workers once wore to enable them to hop on and off their bicycles as they completed their rounds.

It’s the sort of historically informed detail Harriet loves.

Another example comes with a strong feminist message. Harriet’s “powerful pockets”, the deep patch pockets that feature on the Eddi jacket, as well as shirts, dresses and sweatshirts across her range, are inspired by one particularly notable customer at her grandfather’s shop.

“A family member sent me a receipt signed by my grandfather made out for a Ms Emily Wilding Davidson for a pair of gloves to be dry cleaned. Nine months later Emily Davidson stepped out in front of the King’s horse and later died which sparked momentum for the suffragette movement.

“I discovered that the government at the time had dissuaded garment manufacturers from putting pockets in women’s clothing to prevent them from hiding or carrying whatever they needed in an often violent fight for the women’s right to vote. It’s that story which has inspired the large pockets in a lot of my garments.”

Harriet’s political and social conscience comes through in her creativity but it also underpins every aspect of her production. Raised in the Peak District, it was the tutelage and encouragement of her grandmothers that spurred Harriet on to first master a needle and thread.

“They were sticklers for perfection. All the patterns had to be lined up exactly. I don't think it’s necessarily the best way to run a business but I’m now a complete perfectionist too. I think that’s what you get from buying independent - every single detail, the cutting out to the last button being stitched - everything has been done to the utmost care.”

Before launching her brand in 2019, Harriet had completed a degree in fashion at Northumbria University. She went on to spend time at several well-known industry names but “felt there was something missing.”

“I think it was the more emotional side, the more questioning side,” she said.

“Going out on my own was a chance to be truthful to my own beliefs rather than just going along with what is expected.”

Fashion is the UK's largest creative industry. Worth £26 billion, it provides 800,000 jobs to the economy but it’s also responsible for a remarkable amount of waste.

As UK shoppers crave the latest trend, it’s estimated that two tonnes of clothing is purchased every two minutes.

Meanwhile, less than a fifth of used clothing is recycled with £140 million worth of clothing winding up in landfill every year.

Harriet Eccleston garments are produced on a made to order basis ensuring no piece ever goes unworn.

Her UK based fabric manufacturer supplies details of every person and location involved in the process. Air miles and sweatshops don’t come into it. “We are living in a world where consumerism is rammed down our throat,” she says.

“If you buy…if you choose quality garments they should last a lifetime. You shouldn’t wear them twice and then throw them out for the next micro season.”

The final stage of every Harriet Eccleston creation sees a handwritten note placed on top of the boxed garment. Every person involved in the process is credited and the inspiration behind the work is explained.

“It’s lovely to be able to pass on the story to the person who is hopefully going to wear, love and treasure it,” she says.

Harriet puts so much of herself and her heritage into these pieces but sends them out into the world hoping their story has just begun.

“My garments have come from these stories but ultimately it’s your story, It’s through the person who’s wearing it that it will take on a new meaning as they live out their story in that garment.”