Meet the Designer Mom, Kate Hinton

What’s a day in your life like as a designer and a mom?

Hectic hahaha… I’m an incredibly lucky mother in that my job has allowed me to watch my children grow whilst being able to be creative and doing something I love. On the other hand it is not always easy, working from home can be tough when the boundary lines are blurred. I often find I get more things done once the children are asleep but like every other working parent, we are always trying to adapt and learn to create balance between the two. I do try to involve them (depending on the project) so we can sit at the table and draw together. Pre Covid, my role would include more travel so as a Mother, these last 2 years have had their blessings.

What product designs do you specialize in? Can you tell us about your creative process for your designs?

I specialise in footwear, with a background previously working for the UK high street. I have been freelancing in Hong Kong since our arrival 4 years ago and the process required for each client is always different but I personally love the inspiration and research side involved before you even put pencil to paper. Finding something wonderful in the unexpected is what gives me joy in creativity, whether that be through colour texture or shape so that is always where my thoughts start. The process from then on should feel natural yet exciting from initial ideas, material and shape selection, sample development, amendments and changes into final production. I have always found that if I have had to force an idea through, it ultimately isn’t right.

Sustainable practices you’ve adopted in your design process?

LESS SAMPLES - one thing that many consumers don’t understand is the sampling process that goes on before an item reaches the shelf, if you consider how many items enter stores each week, there is so much that goes to waste. I use computer processes and 3D printing to help make final decisions now. 

I also consider every aspect that goes into a style, is it needed? What is its reason? Is it functional or just aesthetic? The world seems to focus on clothing when it comes to sustainability but footwear is one of the hardest things to recycle and continuously fills landfill and for this we must reduce consumption so I always design with multipurpose, durability and functionality in mind.

 As a standard, all design teams MUST consider the source of their fabrications and what the end life will be and what happens when you blend materials together this shouldn't just be a marketing tool but the way it is. 

One sustainable practice you can’t live without personally?

When I buy clothing for myself I look to seasonless and timeless designs that have a place in my wardrobe for a very long period of time. If I buy anything new, I always take time to make a decision and would rather invest in something than buy quickly and on trend. The main new practice that i have introduced into our lives is a refill store, I shop all of our dry foods, spices, laundry etc from Live Zero, refilling containers. I have been doing this for over a year now and it has made a huge difference to our waste.

Can you share with us your take on sustainable fashion? 

The industry is definitely changing and making steps forward in terms of processes and ethical standards but we are still producing too much, with new items being so attainable at both price and shopping access. What we wear has a story, it has come from somewhere, someone's imagination, someone has made it and the world has lost connection with that and with what they buy. In turn this makes us tend not to invest emotionally into what we use, making it easier to disregard and throw away. Investing in quality, better durability and a care and repair society needs to happen to make change so we buy less. 

It is great that companies are introducing better materials into pieces but it should not be about a sustainable collection as a part of the range, everything needs to be considered and the company needs to be fully transparent about what they are doing and how they are trying to improve so consumers can make more informed decisions instead of marketing trends.

What are your thoughts on designing for circularity?

This is a huge topic! Within the footwear industry, designing for circularity is nigh on impossible at the moment. This is changing however with constant innovations coming to the forefront and hopefully in a few years this will become accessible to more people, rather than just companies that can meet the large minimum requirements. Shoes require many more components than other items in order to function and meet the wants of customers and all of these components are bonded together which makes it hard to separate each piece for its own end use. For now, I look to using mono materials that can be recycled together rather than needing separation and ways of stitching rather than using glues.

Another aspect of circularity again is consumption. Logistically the industry could not recycle the amount we consume quick enough and this is miles off. Circularity needs to come through the idea of resell and reuse not just use and recycle.

Why did you choose Retykle to dress your tykes?

Our children have been lucky enough to have received some wonderful items through their young years and I found myself looking for somewhere that we could give these pieces to another person to enjoy, which is how I came across Retykle.

I now use it for all of our girls’ clothes, both for buying and reselling. We receive better quality items that have actually taught us to care for our clothes more and I always love every piece we find. It means the children have their own individual style as there isn't lots of it to buy and it also teaches our children that it doesn't need to be brand new for it to be special, there is still life in things that you may not be able to use anymore. It’s wonderful to feel part of a like minded community that is trying to make a difference in the way we think about fashion.