For better or for worse, fashions sells.

Fabric is everywhere in today’s world, be it the textiles in furniture, bedding, clothing, cars or carpets. The UK’s clothing and shoe market alone had an estimated value of approximately £46.05bn in 2009. ‘Luxury’ fabric is something that most people would more than likely expect to have a particular level of quality, exclusivity and durability. As well as meeting the public’s biased opinions on what a luxury product must entail it is important for the fabric maker to take responsibility and incorporate all fire safety regulations and a care label which is nowadays essential and requested by law. Textiles within design schemes prove easy options to combine colour and texture, as well as providing sculptural qualities.

Today there is an abundance of features in fabrics which are available for us to purchase and utilise. It is important to choose the right materials, particularly if creating an interior with a luxurious element attached. With an unlimited budget it would be obtuse to use a dull, second rate fabric such as muslin. By getting material choice right it will contribute to controlling an impressive finished interior.

Wedding dresses are a particular and obvious item of clothing/fashion/fabric a woman would equate to a luxury product. A ‘luxury’ wedding dress nowadays will cost considerable amounts of money and will generally be the priciest garment a woman will wear in her lifetime. There is a Designer Wedding Show held once a year at Battersea Park in London that claims they will ‘share your passion for design, style and luxury’. A luxurious wedding dress is usually an important component for any bride-to-be, and needs to attain individuality as well as being fit for purpose and beautiful to make the bride herself feel ‘luxurious’ for her big day. By carefully grouping embellishments to the fabric and adding little delightful details to a lower priced wedding dress an exceptional romantic boutique style dress can be created. Brides are continuously looking out for ‘the perfect dresses’, and handmade bespoke luxury wedding creations.

However particular individuals would consider ‘vintage’ to be a luxury. It is believed to be eco-friendly and luxurious in some people’s view to reclaim old material and rediscover old vintage fabric and clothing. They bring to life, dated and old fashioned designs to create customized frivolous pieces. The website, ‘Luxury Vintage’ proves just this, and classes their products as ‘previously owned treasures’. Purchasing products like vintage fabric would mean the end user will be wearing unique garments no one else is likely to own. This links back to how luxury is related to rarity in recent time. Therefore the stimulation of recovering old possessions and making new use out of them can become a luxury – making old clothes or fabric breathe a new breath of life provides a fusion of style between a miss-match of modern fashion trends and vintage flea market finds. Similarly in modern interiors, if you add an antique item within a modern set environment it will become an inconspicuous yet a complementary sensitive detail.

‘Fabrics [today] are produced by the piece, which usually ranges from 30 to 80 yards of fabric depending on the weight and difficulty in production of the goods. It is most common to purchase fabric by the metre. If you purchase handmade luxury fabric which isn’t mass produced, you are more likely to be able to find suitable sizes to predominantly fit your particular needs especially if the fabric is handmade or hand printed. It would be important for designers to source perfect, fit for purpose materials from further afield if working with a client’s high luxury budget, or even unlimited funds.

Fashion arguably is the most important factor and component considered within textiles design and production. Fashion sells and selling equals money, it’s that simple. There is reasonable evidence to suggest that designer’s will do whatever it takes to up their companies’ (and therefore themselves) reputation. In society these days it’s important for any kind of designer to work relentlessly to retain high standards just as closely within the production of their products as it is to please the end users.

There is also a vital balance which can help ethical production within the industry regarding the country of fabrics’ origins. People and craftsmen of the world would not have jobs abroad in third world countries. It’s important that they are employed by large European retailers for their fabric production process. However designer’s can be seen to be unethical by not using fabric production locally, this is an obvious way to save air miles, carbon footprints and generally support local green production.

The price and production of fabrics in some cases can be ethically justified, but in certain cases cannot. By focusing on individual designer’s there are considerable differences between the way each company is focusing on being responsible, both ethically and otherwise. What does seem definite however is that fashion is the way forward within the textiles industry because, for better or for worse, fashions sells.