Crafting nature via the art of clothing has been a unique asset SUI has developed from the start. From the very beginning we knew that our stories would hold their heart close to nature by the way they are created and also with the motifs they carried. Flowers came naturally to this story, their colours, silhouettes and formations have always added their little magic to our designs and outfits, a burst of life present on every piece they are woven into.
As our year almost comes to an end and we also move into winter, we wanted to take a moment to reminisce on the flowers that inspired our journey. We mention how we ourselves have grown and bloomed through the seasons, with each learning and experience showing us how to honour our mission even further and craft greener with each step.
The Palm Stories
This was our beginning, the chapter that defined SUI’s path. It was our ode to our travels and the moments that helped us build this foundation. With Palm Stories, we learned to speak about nature via the art of clothing through our colours, motifs and silhouettes and we learnt the very first things about slow fashion from using green fabrics to crafting slowly.
When it comes to flowers, the bougainvillea was our very first experiment in harnessing it’s beauty through our designs, shown prominently on our Wild Heart shirt - an easy, relaxed silhouette so loved by you all that we have brought back with almost every collection.
You, Me and the Road
Rooted deeply in the heart of the road tripper, this collection spoke about the aspects of nature we find as we travel by car and the essence of losing yourself to the journey. With this collection, we were partly inspired by the wildflowers that grew freely alongside Californian highways and so, it was woven into a few of our motifs.
Wildflowers and Weaves
This collection was where our deep love for wildflowers continued and flourished. This time, we took inspiration from those that grew in the deserts of Joshua Tree National Park, the focus of our new story. A new collaboration also introduced handwoven fabrics crafted by WomenWeave - an NGO based in Maheshwar dedicated to empowering underprivileged women in the handloom sector.
This journey helped us realise the importance of community and why that impact, no matter how small, mattered. We crafted simple silhouettes, in easy organic cotton handwoven fabrics with machine embroidered wildflower motifs and they were loved by all. We have been working with WomenWeave ever since!
Granita
Taking inspiration from the south of Italy and the summer bloom. Granita was heavily inspired by the bougainvillea flowers and how they light up the coastal towns during the summer season. The Italian seaside holds a certain magic and that was the heart of this edit.
In this collection, we also grew through our production process making it even more sustainable and green by , for the first time, prominently using herbal-dyes and natural colours to bring out the shades of the sea and sunshine.
Flow
Australia’s coast truly stole our heart and Byron Bay become the main focus for Flow. It was all about catching moments and its natural landscape, the aesthetic of the town and the flowers native to the area inspired our pieces through colours, embroideries and silhouettes.
With this winter collection, we also strived to create warmer sustainable pieces and we launched our first winter sweatshirts and sweatpants for the first time by crafting with organic cotton fleece.
Tropical Sunshine
Our 5th Chapter focused on Singapore’s Botanic Gardens so it’s no surprise that many of our pieces took inspiration from the flowers that bloom freely there. The most notable and also our main motifs within this summer collection were the hibiscus and, of course, orchids. The beauty of both these flowers were crafted into many of our embroideries and prints.
In this season we also introduced our block print partner, Bagru Textiles, who we loved collaborating with as they helped us make our prints a reality through a slow, green method. We also crafted with some new sustainable fabrics, linen and Tencel, that helped us be more versatile and creative with our designs.
And this has been our journey so far! We have grown so much and are so excited to keep crafting green, your love for our designs and stories that we share here on our blog have encouraged and inspired us immensely to carry on. With that, the winter season is just around the corner and we wanted to leave you with a little hint for what’s to come…
“Almost every person, from childhood, has been touched by the untamed beauty of wildflowers.” - Lady Bird Johnson
Stay green!