Our material is more pliable than traditional sequin material
Bequin – The Stitch Archive is a pioneering initiative by senior knitwear designer Annalisa Dunn and embroidery specialist Lisa Salama, both with extensive experience in the luxury fashion industry. With backgrounds spanning international brands, heritage labels, independent London houses, and academia, the duo bring a deep understanding of design, craft, and sustainability.
The Stitch Archive itself reflects their passion for making high-end textiles accessible, fostering employability, collaboration, and community, while reinvesting all revenue into growing the collection and services. Out of this commitment, Bequin was born—a response to the environmental damage caused by traditional sequins and a vision to reimagine embellishment through biomaterials. Speaking to Fibre2Fashion, the founders share how the idea took shape, the challenges and opportunities of building sustainable alternatives, and their hopes for reshaping luxury fashion’s supply chain in the years to come.
Sequins are a small detail but have a huge environmental footprint. Could you explain the scale of this problem in the luxury fashion industry?
Luxury fashion continues to love sparkle and detail, which sequins provide in abundance. Factories produce vast amounts of sequins using either virgin or recycled plastic made from petroleum derived ingredients. That plastic will last for thousands of years, breaking down slowly into microplastics in our water and soil. From raw material, processing, to end of life, traditional sequins are not a sustainable option and are helping to poison our planet.
What was the original inspiration behind Bequin, and how did the idea of rethinking sequins first take shape?
We have an archive of amazing textiles from our design careers in luxury fashion. However, whilst looking around our room we could not help but notice the array of plastic. We were also working with students who were asking us about our experiences working with sustainable textiles, and we did not have the answers. So, we decided to design a solution that we as designers would feel excited to use for our clients, and to take that solution global.
Bequin has been developed through a collaboration between Botto Labs and Vashishtha Luxury Fashion. How has working with these international partners influenced the development of the project and its approach to sustainable, innovative embroidery?
The project would not have developed in this way without Botto Labs, the formulation, innovation, experience and science all come directly from them. We have worked incredibly closely to bring Bequin about, in complete partnership. Vashishtha Luxury Fashion gave us insights right from the start into how industry partners would handle, test and quality control our material. Their team created some fantastic samples with our first prototypes, working with some challenging shapes and techniques, which helped us to appreciate that the pliability of our material was an advantage and could create textures not possible with traditional sequins.
Why was India chosen as the development and manufacturing base for Bequin, and how does this location influence your work?
India is the heart of the couture and luxury embroidery industry. By developing and manufacturing in India, we are creating a sustainable and local supply chain, which means less international shipping, lower carbon emissions, potential to up-skill rural communities, and also means we can foster better, more responsive relationships with those embroiderers. We can make sure we are meeting their creative needs.
Could you share more about the natural and textile waste resources you use to create Bequin?
One of our important ingredients is seaweed, which is widely available, and a great carbon sequester. We are also using natural dyes produced in India using traditional ingredients such as fruits and flowers. These dyes are non-toxic and offer great colour fastness!
What design possibilities does Bequin open up for luxury fashion houses compared to conventional petroleum-based sequins?
Our material is more pliable than traditional sequin material. We have found that by cutting in larger shapes and pinching/folding, it is easy to create 3D textural effects. By working with sheets rather than pre-cut sequins, there are more creative possibilities for designers.
How do you ensure that creativity and aesthetics are not compromised while pursuing biodegradability and circularity?
We are passionate about the aesthetics of our materials. We have worked as designers for 15+ years, and we have seen time and time again that brands choose not to use sustainable materials because at the end of the day they do not look as exciting and desirable as plastic. We are constantly discussing new ideas for finishes and effects that will keep customers excited and engaged, which offer something recognisable but new.
How are you collaborating with embroidery ateliers and luxury brands to integrate Bequin into their collections?
We work with embroidery ateliers and luxury brands all over the UK and India through our own work. We are now able to show them our material and discuss with them their needs and ideas as customers. We are offering design teams and ateliers testers of the material to give us feedback. We offer a fully customisable service. GANNI worked with us using our first prototype material. They saw our metallic finish and requested a clear coloured finish. We had to explain that meant a new formulation and process. They were willing to work with us to support the additional R&D required for that, which was fantastic!
Bequin is part of the New Landscapes programme and new exhibition, in partnership with UAL’s Fashion, Textiles and Technology Institute (FTTI) and the British Council. How has this collaboration helped to accelerate your research and development?
Our project has come about entirely from this collaboration. We met Botto Labs on an excel spreadsheet right at the start of the project. We have benefitted from academic mentorship from UAL’s FTTI team as well as National Institute of Fashion Technology in Delhi, and both project and team have gained from seeing the other grantees projects, which has led us to further collaborations in our supply chain.
Your approach emphasises low-tech, scalable innovation. How does this support semi-rural communities in India?
By using deliberately low-tech processes, which use less electricity, minimal chemicals and processing, we will be able to train local people to work on our production. Our sourcing aims to include tapping into local industries and making use of their waste in our formulas, creating more revenue streams for those locals.
Certifications and global standards are in progress. What milestones are you aiming for, and how critical are these to Bequin’s global adoption?
We want our customers to be confident in the quality of product they are buying, and clear aftercare/wash care instructions are instrumental to that.
Sustainability often requires trade-offs. What have been the biggest challenges in scaling Bequin while staying true to your mission?
When we have a discussion with a scientist about a technical challenge in improving the behaviour of the material, for example strength, the first solution mentioned often involves a chemical, process or piece of machinery which will negatively impact the sustainability of the material. We then need to think creatively and find a work around that creates the effect we want, with minimum compromise on sustainability.
What are the biggest barriers for sustainable innovations to enter mainstream supply chains?
I think minimum order quantity (MOQ) is a big one. Innovators either need to purchase very small quantities of raw materials for their own supply chain, which can be well below the MOQ producers will entertain, or the expectations of the brands on the sort of regular quantities they can place from innovators is at a scale that cannot be managed from a smaller producer with limited facilities. In a nutshell that is a scaling issue. But the market is ready for products now, innovators want the exposure, and scaling properly takes time and investment, so it is a balancing act.
Cost parity is a huge barrier as well. Everyone wants to keep cost down and make a decent margin. Even though luxury fashion items may sell for thousands at retail, the cost price is less the 1/4 of this price, which considering the complexity of these garments, does not leave much budget for each material or process involved. Biomaterials tend to be more expensive than their petrochemical counterparts, so their inclusion really has to be weighed up and potentially offset somewhere else in the garment (for instance the construction might have to be simplified). So, their inclusion leads to more decisions across departments and potential delays to a manufacturing process that runs a mile-a-minute.
Again, it is a balancing act. In a wider context, the fashion cycle is deeply problematic and sees some of the larger fashion houses making 8-10 collections per 12 months. It is not sustainable environmentally or mentally for the designers. I think this is a huge issue that must be addressed.
How do you see the role of biomaterials evolving in the future of fashion and luxury?
The innovation happening within the biomaterials space is really exciting. There has been a lot of engagement from the luxury brands with these innovators at various expos and fairs which is really encouraging to see. We are on the cusp of seeing products from innovators who have been building for five or more years and have now scaled, ready to enter the market and pave the way for others. That is already beginning with industry leaders like GANNI, who are working closely with bio-innovators across their collections. It is key to keep in mind the end consumer, as ultimately all of this needs to translate into sales. They want to buy a product that functions and looks pretty much like the original non-sustainable version. Some consumers will care about the innovation story; many others will not and would not want to feel that the quality or cost has been compromised. A lot of educating the consumer rests with the brands’ marketing strategy, which will vary from brand to brand based on which market they want to appeal to.
How can traditional craft and modern science work together to create responsible materials?
When one can inform the other, magic can happen. Traditional craft means listening to our intuition, taking time, honouring our hands and the process. Working with craftsmen and artisans to test our Bequin material has allowed us to better understand the qualities and potential it possesses and those it needs to acquire. The earliest stages of Bequin’s scientific formula development were hand process led, and if possible, when scaling we want to maintain this element as much as possible.
In your view, how important is localisation of production in reducing fashion’s environmental footprint?
I think this could be a revolutionising move. I could not say how long it would take to set something like this up and there is a myriad of factors, but in simplest terms, if there were a blueprint that each country could follow, in order to set up sustainable fabric mills, processing mills (like printing), where water treatment etc is properly managed (which all actually already exist and could possibly be adapted), it would benefit local communities and economies greatly. It would also benefit the brands, since the manufacturing is not split across continents, can happen quicker, and without international shipment which brings total costs down. It would mean that the designers and creative directors would make material selection in a totally different way, led by region primarily, rather than whichever combination of materials and processes they like best.
To some degree, this does happen in luxury industrial hubs like Italy, where the luxury fabric weaving mills are based (not all the fibres will be sourced locally), along with innovative process suppliers. However, there is value in focusing on the continents and communities most affected by climate change, investing in these regions to elevate them to a level that can rival luxury producers.
Looking ahead, how do you see Bequin reshaping the luxury embellishment supply chain over the next 5–10 years?
We are a small part of a rapidly growing new market of biomaterials. From discussion with our contacts within the fashion industry, design teams and creative directors are ready to implement sustainable embellishment materials wherever they can, as long as the look and price is right, and that production can keep pace with the seasonal cycle, which should not be underestimated—even luxury fashion moves at lightning pace compared to many other luxury industries. There needs to be an ongoing, open dialogue between materials innovators and design teams whilst designers understand the parameters and constraints of what it means to work with a sustainable material, for example, in terms of time scale, colour ranges and environmental factors.
Looking ahead, how do you see Bequin reshaping the luxury embellishment supply chain over the next 5–10 years?
We are a small part of a rapidly growing new market of biomaterials. From discussion with our contacts within the fashion industry, design teams and creative directors are ready to implement sustainable embellishment materials wherever they can, as long as the look and price is right, and that production can keep pace with the seasonal cycle, which should not be underestimated—even luxury fashion moves at lightning pace compared to many other luxury industries. There needs to be an ongoing, open dialogue between materials innovators and design teams whilst designers understand the parameters and constraints of what it means to work with a sustainable material, for example, in terms of time scale, colour ranges and environmental factors.
