DesignerFriday – Fashion With Purpose: An End-of-Life-First Brand Built Around the Women Who Make It

The brand

DesignerFriday is a sustainable fashion brand I founded after twenty years of producing clothing and merchandise for other people. After enough years inside the industry, I had seen the questions most brands never ask. What happens to the excess fabric. What happens to the garment when it stops being worn. What life does the production unit make possible for the people working in it.

DesignerFriday is the brand I built when I decided to try answering those questions from the start, in my own work.

The principle: end of life, first

Most fashion is designed for the moment of purchase. DesignerFriday was designed in the opposite order. Every fibre choice, every dye choice, every pattern shape begins with a question about what the garment becomes when it is no longer being worn.

That meant a hard line on materials: only biodegradable fabrics, naturally-dyed printed cottons, sea-shell buttons rather than plastic, no synthetic blends that compromise compostability. It meant designing around silhouettes that work for real bodies and stay relevant beyond a single season, so the garment is worn longer before it ever needs to leave a wardrobe. The signature A-line dress is not a trend piece. It is a shape that lasts.

It also meant building the brand around the use of excess fabric from production runs. The first DesignerFriday pieces were made from leftover yardage that would otherwise have gone to waste. That principle remains central to the range today.

The unit: built around the women who make it

The production unit in India is the heart of DesignerFriday, and the choice that defined what kind of brand this could be.

The unit is structured around the women who work in it, not the other way around. Workers come and go around their children. They are paid for the time they actually work, on terms that fit their families. The unit runs classes on hygiene, finance, dyeing, sewing, and weaving — not as add-ons, but as part of how it operates.

The aim is straightforward: a safe place where women can become financially independent on terms that work around the rest of their lives, while learning skills that compound beyond any single role. Women who started on hand-finishing have moved into block-printing, dyeing, and weaving. Some have gone on to lead other women coming into the unit.

This is what the brand actually means by “fashion with purpose.” It is not a marketing line. It is a description of how the production unit is run.

The product

DesignerFriday’s signature pieces are hand block-printed A-line dresses and matching sets, in naturally-dyed cottons, finished with sea-shell buttons. Every piece is breathable, non-toxic, and built to be worn.

The block printing is done by hand, on cotton that has been dyed using natural plant- and mineral-based pigments. The A-line shape is consistently flattering across body types, designed for comfort and movement rather than the silhouette of a single moment in fashion. Matching sets allow customers to mix pieces across their wardrobe.

The result is clothing that feels considered without feeling precious. It is clothing built to be lived in.

The retail story

The DesignerFriday range first reached UK customers through John Lewis pop-ups in 2021 and 2022. Both collections sold out. Customers responded to the combination of comfort, the visible craft of hand block printing, and the genuine, traceable story of how the clothes were made.

After those pop-ups, I took time to formalise the brand structure, refine the production process, and ensure that the relaunched brand could grow without losing what made it work. In January 2026, DesignerFriday relaunched as a Ltd company, with the same group of women in the same unit, producing for direct customers through designerfriday.com.

What this brand demonstrates

DesignerFriday is not a side project. It is the practical proof of the principles I bring to every consultancy client at Bhavna Rishi London.

Specifically, it shows that:

• A genuinely traceable production model is possible for an independent brand, with full visibility from cotton fibre to finished garment.
• End-of-life-first design is commercially viable. Biodegradable fabrics, natural dyes, and natural fastenings produce garments customers actively want.
• Ethical production is not a cost line; it is a brand line. The unit’s structure is also the brand’s story.
• Small-batch and excess-fabric-led design beats overproduction, both environmentally and commercially.

For founders considering how to build sustainability into their own brand from the start, DesignerFriday is the model I draw on most often when I am asked what good looks like.

Visit

DesignerFriday is live at designerfriday.com.