Each shirt is first scoured to deeply clean the fibres and encourage any further shrinkage. Bodice and armhole seams are then measured and compared, and shirts of complimentary sizes, colours and patterns are partnered up. Once disassembled, the bodices and sleeves are dip-dyed in herbal dye baths and metal salt mordants. Multiple dips are sometimes needed to produce strong colours. Once rinsed, washed and cured, the components are hand-stitched together using raw cotton thread.

The main plant dyes used are blends of myrobalan nut, indigo leaf, madder root, pomegranate rind, lac resin and galls of oak and sumac. These are traditional pigments that stand the test of time with their strong light and washfastness. Indigo dyeing is unique because the colour is developed not through extracting, steeping and mordanting, but through a complex process of vatted fermentation. I use pure Indigofera tinctoria grown by Taraiblue in the Himalayan foothills of Uttarakhand, Northern India.

This project can transform how we think about creating clothes within planetary boundaries.

It has the potential to bolster existing and emerging small scale industries at local and regional levels. It enables raw material producers, textile upcyclers, designers and makers to collaborate in phasing out synthetic fibres and imposing limits on new production. The approach can be used on any garment that can be easily disassembled and dyed with plant pigments, with vast potential for creative exploration. Nothing is discarded; components of the assembled garments are manipulated to fit, rather than cut to fit. The product that emerges is imbued with extended life, value and expression.