• Skip to content
  • Skip to footer
  • Accessibility options
University of Brighton
  • About us
  • Business and
    employers
  • Alumni and
    supporters
  • For
    students
  • For
    staff
  • Accessibility
    options
Open menu
Home
Home
  • Close
  • Study here
    • Meet us
    • Open days
    • Virtual tours
    • Upcoming events
    • Applicant days
    • Meet us in your country
    • Chat to our students
    • Ask us a question
    • Order a prospectus
    • Our campuses
    • Our four campuses
    • Accommodation options
    • Our halls
    • Helping you find a home
    • What you can study
    • Find a course
    • Full A-Z course list
    • Explore our subjects
    • Our academic departments
    • How to study with us
    • Undergraduate application process
    • Postgraduate application process
    • International student application process
    • Apprenticeships
    • Applying through Clearing
    • Transfer from another university
    • Fees and financial support
    • Undergraduate finance
    • Postgraduate finance
    • Our funding and support options
    • Supporting you
    • Your wellbeing
    • Student support and guidance tutors
    • Study skills support
    • Careers and employability
  • Research
    • Research and knowledge exchange
    • Research and knowledge exchange organisation
    • The Global Challenges
    • Centres of Research Excellence (COREs)
    • Research Excellence Groups (REGs)
    • Our research database
    • Information for business
    • Community University Partnership Programme (CUPP)
    • Postgraduate research degrees
    • PhD research disciplines and programmes
    • PhD funding opportunities and studentships
    • How to apply for your PhD
    • Research environment
    • Investing in research careers
    • Strategic plan
    • Research concordat
    • News, events, publications and films
    • Featured research and knowledge exchange projects
    • Research and knowledge exchange news
    • Inaugural lectures
    • Research and knowledge exchange publications and films
    • Academic staff search
  • About us
  • Business and employers
  • Alumni, supporters and giving
  • Current students
  • Staff
  • Accessibility
Search our site
Aerial view of the Moulsecoomb campus
About us
  • Your university
  • Governance and structure
  • Working with us
  • Statistics and legal
  • News and events
  • Contact us
  • News and events
    • News and events
    • News
    • Events
    • Coronavirus
    • Livestream
    • Open lectures
    • Term dates
  • News
    • News
    • 2022
    • 2021
    • 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013

Design Museum showcases Brighton-trained sustainable fashion pioneer

The award-winning social change fashion of University of Brighton graduate Bethany Williams has gone on show at London's Design Museum until 4 September.

10 March 2022

After graduating from the University of Brighton with BA(Hons) Fine Art in 2012, Williams took a masters at London College of Fashion, before launching her pioneering fashion label in 2017. She focuses on bringing about social change via collaborations with different charities each season, while addressing broader fashion industry problems ranging from agricultural practices to communication. You can hear Bethany talking about her work using recycled sustainable textiles on YouTube.

The free-to-see Design Museum exhibition – entitled Bethany Williams: Alternative Systems – features dazzling fashion made from diverse recycled and eco-friendly sources, including book waste, cactus leather, reclaimed fabrics and pieces made from waste packaging tape. These are complemented by work made through her regular collaborations with charities and community organisations – to which she donates a percentage of profits from every project.

Bethany Williams

Bethany Williams

Bethany Williams fashion exhibition - courtesy of Design Museum

Bethany Williams fashion exhibition - courtesy of Design Museum

In May 2021, Bethany won a £200,000 award for her pioneering work from the British Fashion Council/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund. Speaking after that win, she said: “As designers, we are problem-solvers. We want to provide an alternative system for fashion production, as we believe fashion’s reflection upon the world can create positive change.”

Dr Jules Findley, Principal Lecturer in the University of Brighton's School of Art and Media, said: “At the University of Brighton we teach sustainability and responsible thinking on all our design courses, particularly in Fashion, Textiles and 3D Design Crafts, where change is accelerating due to climate change. Circular loops and recycling are taught so that students are aware of the important issues around fashion and textiles.

“Working with communities and making processes sustainable is as important as the actual design of the garment or the material innovation itself. It is thinking around the whole manufacturing processes, so that students can visualise the potential for recycling as part of their design and communication thinking and planning. Many of our recent graduates and alumni are actively working with sustainable companies and brands, which is a great result.” 

One recent University of Brighton alumna playing a role in creating innovative sustainable fashion is 2020 BA(Hons) 3D Design and Craft graduate Imogen Gray, who won the New Designer of the Year Award plus Environmental Design Award from Creative Conscience and the Business Design Centre for her creation of a method to take leather scraps that previously would have been consigned to landfill, and repurpose them into a new material which improves on the natural limitations of leather through being able to be cast in moulds.

Bethany Williams fashion exhibition - courtesy of Design Museum

Bethany Williams fashion exhibition - courtesy of Design Museum

Elsewhere, 2020 Fashion Design with Business Studies BA(Hons) graduate Sarah-Louise Koessler is currently developing new lines of handbags, accessories and a ready-to-wear collection using fabric remnants to reduce waste, while 2021 Fashion Communication with Business Studies graduate Annabelle Gray has taken the insights from her final year project on sustainable packaging into her current job working at the British outdoor clothing label MUSTO.

The University of Brighton is also offering a PhD Studentship in the School of Art and Media to carry out research into Sustainability in Fashion or Textiles. Deadline for applications is 14 March.

Instagram: @Bethany_Williams_London
Twitter: @Beth_Williams

Back to top
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn icon

Contact us

University of Brighton
Mithras House
Lewes Road
Brighton
BN2 4AT

Main switchboard 01273 600900

Course enquiries

Sign up for updates

University contacts

Report a problem with this page

Quick links Quick links

  • Courses
  • Open days
  • Order a prospectus
  • Academic departments
  • Academic staff
  • Professional services departments
  • Jobs
  • Privacy and cookie policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Libraries
  • Term dates
  • Maps
  • Graduation
  • Site information
  • Online shop
  • COVID-19
  • The Student Contract

Information for Information for

  • Current students
  • International students
  • Media/press
  • Careers advisers/teachers
  • Parents/carers
  • Business/employers
  • Alumni/supporters
  • Suppliers
  • Local residents