Designer Ria Roberts began her clothes label like many others from her flat, producing bespoke printed t-shirts using a hand held silkscreen and a small sewing machine. The Ria Roberts label now represents much more than hand made chic, over the last 3 years Ria has travelled extensively in England, South East Asia and now India to source independent companies that meet European standards of fair trade and working conditions. In addition all prints are created using vegetable dyes and 100% cotton. To elevate the label to near saintly status Ria is now in the process of acquiring organic cotton to use in all her lines. Leaving aside the ultra ethical nature of the products, her shirts, pants and dresses are playful and artistic looking and it’s highly unlikely that you’ll meet anyone with the same garment as each design is only ever given a small run. Her garments are available in a selection of shops, found on her website and can also be purchased online.

Having worked the London markets for years she realised through networking with other designers and artists that continuing to manufacture in the UK was not viable. This in conjunction with several trips to India motivated her to set up a Fair-trade style manufacturing base.

Ria now rents a unit over 2 floors in Delhi, set up with industrial sewing machines, pressing machines and printing tables. Here there are 9 staff, 5 of which are salaried, all of them are employed under one roof in a fair-trade consortium. Everything is still in its early stages, but Ria is thrilled about the long-term implications for everyone involved. Her team in India, which includes her partner Kev, source organic/fair-trade certified cottons and already all printing and dying is carried out with vegetable dyes and pigment inks akin to Dyestar; the most ecologically sound ink available.

In 2008 Ria hopes to show her work at trade shows; this will allow her to secure larger orders and in turn finance the more creative aspects of her label. While she does hope to up the scale of production her label is still aimed at the alternative and creative sector. Having looked as several big trade shows, including The Clothes Show, she opted for Margin which is held in Soho in February 2008. Margin is a show promoting young, upscale streetwear and directional tailoring labels featuring everything from skatewear, lifestyle products, to headwear and footwear.