A Cool Textile Designer Talks Business, Trends & More
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The best decision I ever made was studying art history at Goldsmiths. After graduating, I ended up working as a photographer with a special interest in taking pictures of women in their homes. My best – my favourite personal project to date was ‘Women who live alone’ made up of pictures of subjects all over the world, from Russia to Ghana, Beijing to LA.
Creativity is an inherently human trait. I believe everyone has it and can express it if they’re given the right channel to do so. I’ve spent over a decade working in and around the creative industries and I love seeing people’s ideas come to life. As a photographer, I see life in still images. When I look down a street, I see my favourite aesthetic shots. We invite our customers to see the world in stripes – finding inspiration in the two colours of a beautiful dessert or some flowers and using that to guide their choices. We also encourage taking colour from other objects that share the space, whether that's art, or the tree outside the window. We've even had people bringing their pets in, to colour-match their fur.
It was when I was searching for a specific stripe for a dog bed that the idea for Colours of Arley formed. I’m from Manchester and my family work in textiles, so I commissioned my own stripe. All my friends were messaging me, asking where they could get the same fabric, and so Colours of Arley was born. Arley is a village in Cheshire, near where I grew up and where we made the first metre of fabric for Patch's dog bed. It’s where we continue to produce all our fabrics today.
It’s actually the stories behind the stripe patterns that interest me most. When I started the brand, I explored the rich history of stripes – from butcher’s to barber’s, seaside nostalgia to childhood memories. For example, I remember that my sister and I had amazing matching striped swimsuits as young girls. Our goal is to inspire people to express their own stories through their choice of stripe. Made from recycled materials, our stripes are designed to outlast trends and last for years to come.
It's also the versatility of stripes that makes them so relevant. They can be used as the perfect statement feature, while also serving as a complementary fabric for a bold headboard or as a co-ordinating pattern to sit beside an intricate floral.
There are already over 100,000 stripe possibilities in our range. But we encourage customers to choose colours that hold personal significance for them, so that they love it forever. We've had people choose colours inspired by their grandma’s trifle or a favourite jumper they lost on a night out. One mother recently chose a stripe inspired by her son’s first school uniform.
We sell quite a few striped shower curtains and pet beds. I love seeing how customers get creative with their stripes – from frilled golf cart buggies at a poolside in Brazil to a giant bed backstage at Glastonbury.
Because we only sell bespoke fabrics, every purchase feels like a collaboration. One that comes to mind is when we worked with fashion designer Adam Jones on a DFUN (Down From Up North) collection inspired by northern pub culture, with patterns like ‘Snooker’ and ‘Gammon & Peas’. We’ve also partnered with fashion brands like RIXO and Damson Madder, as well as platforms like Vinterior and, most recently, By Rotation.
The best bit about launching a small brand is seeing the stripes out in the real world. I recently took the team around London visiting some of the projects we've made bespoke fabrics for – from the changing rooms at Selfridges to seating areas in bookshops and bakeries. We make everything to order, even our samples. Any leftover fabric is made into accessories, which is a new line we are launching in the next month, so we really will be zero waste. Our fabrics are also crafted from recycled bottles and come in a variety of finishes, from a linen look to velvet. Everything is printed in the UK at our own workshops in Cheshire. Because we are both the brand and the manufacturer, we can provide flexible options – even if it’s a single metre to cover a washing machine all the way up to bigger purchases such as curtains or banquettes.
Our future plans include more collaborations. We’re launching one in New York in the coming weeks, which I’m really excited about and our biggest yet is launching in February so keep an eye on our Instagram.
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