Recovered Uncovered: Designing Red's Recovered Collection

At Red, we’re focused on making products with the least number of offcuts, but there is always an element of leftover fabric. That got us thinking... "What if we created a collection of changing robes made from repurposed materials without compromising on performance or style?". What started as a lightbulb moment is now our latest sustainable edit entitled The Recovered Collection - we caught up with Red’s Designer Cat Heraty to find out more...

Talk us through how the recovered collection came to fruition.

We always start a new ‘season’ with a good dose of research. For AW23, we saw lots of really great inspiration around colour blocking, anything from arts and crafts to heritage outdoors kit and even aerial photographs of landscapes. Our research themes are really broad so we don’t get stifled by the limitations of our direct industry. 

Initially, we looked at colour blocking with new coloured fabrics, but something didn’t seem to make sense - the fabric wastage that would inevitably come with this. In garment production, there are always MOQs (minimum order quantities) to consider. With products like our Pro Change Robe EVO we always try to keep demand in line with the MOQ, but sometimes there may be a small surplus of fabric.

We were blown away by the response to our initial recovered robes and wanted to repeat this, but sadly (or gladly) we'd almost depleted everything we had. The process means that there's always something left and with the best planning in the world it's inevitable to have something. This latest offering is even more limited than the last time and with our latest upgrade to 15k/8k fabric this really is the last time these colours will appear...

How do we overcome the inevitable issue of surplus fabrics?

Ordinarily, you would hope to use up overstock fabrics on subsequent orders but sometimes the popularity of a colour changes and there's demand for a fresh alternative. The overstock fabric still exists and may be sitting in a warehouse, waiting to be loved again. Some factories have a contract that states they’ll store the fabric for a set number of years, beyond which the fabric may start to degrade or can lose its efficiency for the intended application.

So how is the Recovered Collection giving new life to these surplus fabrics?

Through discussions with our factory, we discovered that we had accumulated some overstock rolls from previous orders but didn’t want to make more of the same colours, but equally didn’t want them to go to waste. Our colours are quite classic and heritage in our Pro Change Robe EVO, and normally we try to keep colour combinations as broad-reaching and commercial as possible. 

With our Recovered Collection, we wanted to be a bit more playful in our approach. So, going back to our research boards, we decided to try to emulate some of the colour combinations and have fun using what we already had available to us.

What was the inspiration behind Recovered’s three colour combinations? 

The new colourways for the Recovered Pro Change Robe EVO bring a fresh, playful energy, borrowing vibrant tones from Red Equipment's children's range to create a lively adult collection. These shades tap into classic, vintage-inspired pairings, like the bright orange and turquoise duo, which evokes images of Mediterranean seas and warm, sun-scorched landscapes. Alongside these vivid combinations are earthy, nature-driven hues that balance the boldness with a grounded aesthetic, making each robe not only a practical choice for outdoor adventurers but also a stylish, nostalgic nod to timeless outdoor colors and sunny coastal escapes.