Olivia Rubens is a sustainable womenswear designer that uses eco-friendly naturally or low impact dyed GOTS/Oeko-Tex certified or traceable fabrics and recycled synthetics in all of her garments, while changing the often negative and bland perception about sustainable fashion design. The garments are thoughtfully designed, using novel upcycling techniques to recycle fibres and create new fabrics from the ground up. Her theory of change supports that the strategies  ­­will incite her customers to embrace an earth-friendly garment life cycle, while remaining just as exciting and colourful as they were born to be already. Not only does Olivia work within ecological sustainability, but also she is working to better communities. She currently works with youth with the Octavia Foundation, while teaching sustainability workshop to their staff, and repurposing unsold clothing from their charity shops' stock floor.

She also worked toward contributing to women’s charities, empowering women and providing economic stability and development, raising awareness about the inequalities for women in the workplace, and assisting in making effective positive changes for women in the workplace.

She is now a part of the MA Fashion Womenswear 2020 cohort at the London College of Fashion and is working to innovate further in the field of sustainable design and technology. She is working with Manusa, a knit lab that employs refugees and women with fragilities, local knitwear developers, an EU natural dyer, and locally sourced sustainable fabrics and yarns to develop her MA collection, and she continues her research in repurposing of deadstock garments. Her goals are to change the narrative surrounding consumption and fashion, and to invest in research and technology  to change how we perceive these things and to create conversation. Olivia is working to support and sustain local communities and develop thoughtful collections, and will bring this forward after her graduate studies to build her brand in the UK.

Olivia Rubens' aim for 2020 is to show full traceability from farmer/fibre to garment, and to document and show you her design and production process. Keep an eye out for more information to come with the release of her a/w 2020 collection, rethought and repositioned for her future outtake on fashion.