Circle of Designer’s has found the perfect studio space with just the right styling that can be used when the weather allows. Situated on a ridge in one of Sydney’s many reserves wouldn’t you agree that the backdrop is the ideal outdoor room.

As a keen sketcher/designer when I look around in a natural bushland setting I am continually inspired. PipWilly

Hemp is strong & durable but most importantly, hemp is kind to the environment. All our dyes are water based & eco friendly.

Choose your combination today.

The Head designer behind ZEEGA , Kathy Subic brings over 30 years fashion experience to her finely made range of clothing. You just need to wear one of Kathy’s pieces to realise the cut & fit that only a bespoke designer/ tailor can attain.

ZEEGA is now offering the choice of Circle of Designer’s range of fabrics because they are totally environmentally friendly and handprinted in Australia. Zeega is working on further development with Fibre Farm using true Australian grown wool and blending it with other eco friendly natural fibres into knitted and woven fabrics, aswell as using ecological dyes. The whole project of re-establishing the industry here in Australia will create more and more jobs, but most of all, it is creating the foundation for up and coming young talented designers for both fashion and textiles.

ZEEGA‘s dream is to make fine fashion right here in Australia & keep the fashion trade alive – to be able to mentor our young talent and help them create their own collections to be introduced to the world PROVIDED it is manufactured in Australia.

 This dream is very achievable so please buy Australian Made where you possibly can and keep our industry in Australia. We welcome you to our collaboration & look forward to our future’s journey and hope you will share it with us.

The PipWilly fabric of this shawl collar jacket debued at Melbourne Spring Fashion week 2012 to a great reception.

Not all the exhibits are of such a ‘hand done’ nature but the overall theme is about opening your eyes to things that are right in front of you or that might not be available in the coming years. Why would we want to import all our fabrics from off shore design houses when there are professional designers and expertise right here.

It’s time our leading interior designers, residential and commercial, starting believing in the local talent as well. The success and continued creativity of our textile designers, lies firmly in the hands of the interior design professionals.

Each year the Design Institute of Australia in NSW promotes textile designers in an exhibition which has been named Interwoven. The exhibition was initiated to help foster and contribute to a vibrant textiles culture in Australia. There are many textile designers who create high quality original products in Australia; but with scarcity of jobs here, many are forced to go it alone. Interwoven hopes to create a community that harnesses and revives the textile industry by linking trained designers to local producers.

Interwoven- http://www.facebook.com/media/set/set=a.401298223249881.88647.267401116639593&type=3

This year the exhibition will be held at The Damien Minton annex space Redfern, Sydney from the 5^th – 8^th June 2012. Interwoven offers designers and artisans the opportunity to present their work in a gallery context. There is a large component of local screen-printing textile works that extend into commercial and residential interior and homeware applications. Other small textiles businesses will have explorations into new technology and digital art pieces on display. We are encouraging a diverse audience including professional designers to view the display.

This year the textiles and fashion exhibition Interwoven will be held at The Damien Minton annex space Redfern, Sydney from the 5^th – 8^th June 2012. Interwoven offers designers and artisans the opportunity to present their work in a gallery context.

One of the most aesthetically appealing exhibits this year is ‘Endangered Species’ by Tara Badcock in collaboration with Circle of Designers.

Tara is a well known and distinctive Tasmanian artist who dedicates her time to making textile exhibits for a number of galleries throughout Australia. She has had many international artist residencies and her work has a uniquely ‘Australian’ message. Her techniques of drawing with gorgeous threads by using the sewing machine and by hand, really portrays her connection to the handcrafted medium. Tara succeeds in creating exquisite items that appeal to her audience whilst also sending the message about the fragile Australian environment. Everyone who admires Tara’s use of traditional methods would also appreciate the beauty in their execution.

After the Exhibition Tara’s evocative birds are available exclusively from Planet in Commonwealth Street, Sydney. These include endangered spieces – the Gouldian Finch and Hooded Plover on Sophie Seeger and Vikki Turtons’s base cloths. As well as the Stag Beetle on Kasia Jacquot’s ‘Halinka’. 

Take a look at some of the new skirts available:-

Designs on Charcoal on Silver and Blue on offwhite Hemp /organic cotton.

Mulga by Sophie – on a trip into Central Australia, she met the Mulga – a plant that provides significant resources to the Indigenous community – from collection of water, to food. She was inspired by its symmetrical appearance; and its strong yet delicate silhouette against the wide desert skies.

Vintage Damask by Pip – A hand drawn reinterpretation of the traditional damask. A modern take on a popular classic design. Bold and contrasting feel. Use any shade including strong colours for a great look.

There was a wide range of patterns printed by hand on hemp and organic cotton cloth, made into original garments in Australia on display. Our new customers were very impressed with the use of the wonderful hemp base cloth, adapted in a more fashionable way than often seen in the past. Our A-Line skirts, paneled skirts, kaftan dresses, with coloured hemp tees/singlets and bags to coordinate were a hit with the Sydney Designer crowd.

Each designer brought a signature look and feel to their independent fabric range which created a wonderful variety and arty signature to the fashion range.

The colours of the season on display were Marmalade, Ocean, Ruby, Charcoal, Willow Green, Duck egg Blue. All the  designs were handprinted on the Hemp /organic cotton base cloth which comes in the colours stone, silver, charcoal, off white.

We received some orders to make up for specific tastes after the show.

The aim of the independent textile designers, is to create a dynamic artistic environment for designers to bring eco-friendly fashion products into the marketplace – respecting how things are made in the supply chain.

From the inception as a clothing enterprise, the label’s mission is to meet the best sustainable and ethical requirements. There are measures in place to meet these requirements:

From a human perspective we follow a slow philosophy of making fashion where we;

* Charge a realistic price for garments.

* Make timeless pieces that have longevity.

* Work directly with makers – not having them outsource to their people.

* Check working conditions and suppliers.

* Use earth-friendly materials where possible, saving on pesticides, water, and waste.

* Create  garments made of natural fibre, which only require gentle washing.

Our stock is now available from the Finders Keepers store, ‘Follow’ in Surry Hills.

We believe in protecting our environment and believe that textile design and fashion can be done creatively in an eco-friendly way.

We are a fashion label 100% Australian-owned

Eco-friendly art-based fabric range from Circle of Designers

Circle of Designers is a fashion label that is 100% Australian-owned, developed and created. The fashion garments are ethically and sensitively produced.

The fashion label delivers art-based fashion that is of the highest standard – unique designs printed on quality fabric and with quality production.

Independent Textile Designers

Currently, we have six textile designers in the circle. Circle of Designers is exclusive in textile design and garment design, making for unique fashion.

See our designer products in Our Range.

View our designer fabrics webpage.

Hemp is several times stronger than cotton, more resistant to abrasion and tears – and it’s more resistant to mildew, soiling, shrinkage and the deteriorating effects of the sun.

Modern technology can make hemp the most practical, environmentally- sensible textile on the planet. Hemp fabric is warm in winter, cool in summer, organic and blends easily with other textiles.

Hemp fabric breathes wonderfully against the skin; it washes well; and it lasts. Most importantly, hemp is kind to the environment.

Environmental benefits of hemp cultivation

Hemp's naturally creamy colour means no dioxins are needed in the production process

Hemp’s natural creamy colour eliminates the need for chlorine bleach so that the toxin, dioxin, is not used. This eliminates the dumping of this toxic substance into our streams and oceans. Hemp is clean, both for the environment and the user.

Industrial hemp Cannabis Sativa L, also known as ‘Indian hemp’, is one of the oldest crops known to man. Its early uses were building materials, paper, textiles, fuel, food and medicine. Until the advent of synthetics, cannabis hemp was the standard fibre of the world.

Hemp is naturally resistant to insects, and being an efficient ‘smother crop’, there is little need for pesticides, herbicides or fungicides. Hemp’s long tap root and nutritious qualities make it a natural for crop rotation. It feeds the soil and, in turn, rejuvenates and fertilizes the soil naturally while using only a modest amount of water.

In fact, hemp crops are being used in the outlaying regions of Chernobyl, in Ukraine, to leach out the radioactive. It can produce two to four times as much pulp per hectare as wood chipping, and deadly dioxins are not produced with hemp pulp as they are with wood pulp.

Hemp – truly a wonder crop and ideal for clothes, bags and other textile products.