Maddie Williams Designs Sustainable Puffer Jacket for ‘less’ by JNBY Group

After winning the Redress Design Award 2019, Maddie Williams travelled to Mainland China to join the JNBY Group team in their Hangzhou headquarters to collaborate and gain hands-on experience on producing a sustainable collection for retail. Working across every step of the production process, Maddie was fully immersed in the garment design process, experiencing first hand all the functions around a fashion brand.

Speaking about her experience, Maddie said, “It was an immersive and authentic experience of working in the fashion industry. With the guidance and translation of the JNBY team I spoke to in-house pattern cutters, knit technicians, did sample fittings, looked through dead-stock fabric and picked trims in their giant storerooms. It was a very dynamic and fast-paced place to work - you could request something in the morning and get it back in the afternoon. Being able to do this gave me my first genuine insight of the realities of creating a collection for market - and it was a unique experience to have been involved in all of the steps.” 

Now retailing in over 100 stores across China, the result of the collaboration is a stunning up-cycled and recycled puffer jacket for the brand ‘less’ by JNBY Group.

The Breathable Puffer is created with a combination of deadstock fabrics for the jacket’s patchwork outer layer. The lining is made from recycled polyester and the jacket is filled with repurposed duck and goose down that has been collected from post-consumer sources, such as duvets and pillows.

JNBY partnered with the Redress Design Award for the ninth cycle to support the world’s most talented emerging sustainable fashion designers and Redress’ mission in promoting sustainable fashion, catalysing positive change in China’s powerful fashion industry. 

Learn more about Maddie here.