An Interview with Felesha Papa-Adams

This month’s interview is with Felesha Papa-Adams, founder of vegan fashion brand Collection & Co. I’m very honoured to feature Felesha in my interview series, as it was her designs that got me so excited about the possibilities of vegan fashion! When I first turned vegan and started looking at what vegan footwear and clothing was available, I was worried that there wasn’t anything out there that would suit my style. I saw something online about a vegan shoe store in Bristol and I headed straight there to check it out! I couldn’t believe my luck that a store like this was in my hometown and offered such a great range of boots, trainers and heels all in vegan materials.

I’ve basically been addicted ever since then and I love seeing the new designs that Felesha comes up with for her Autumn and Summer seasons. Collection & Co pieces are made in Greece, and they only produce small quantities of their lines, so they avoid waste and can guarantee a high quality of product. Materials like Pinatex, organic cotton and hemp are used throughout their collections, and they also reuse fabrics from past collections to create new items. My all-time favourite boots are the Pelion, which were recently seen on Natalie Portman!

Have a read of my interview with Felesha and find out how she got started on her vegan fashion journey. Collection & Co has recently launched their new lines for Autumn/Winter, so go check it out!

1. Tell us a bit about your career so far and what led you to start up your own fashion brand?

I began my career by working for luxury fashion brands in London before setting up the business and decided to pursue my dream and design my own range of leather‒free footwear, which I felt was lacking in the industry. Being vegan myself, I saw Collection & Co as an opportunity to promote beautiful products and transcend the need for leather.

2. What made you decide to make your brand completely vegan?

The brand launched nearly 5 years ago and at that time, I saw a huge gap in the market for not only a vegan footwear brand, but the opportunity to create sustainable shoes that were stylish at the same time. We were one of the first brands in 2016 to create fully vegan and sustainable shoes. Working in the fashion industry for many years before setting up the business, I was able to see first hand how fabrics were manufactured and as a result knew that when I launched this brand, I wanted every single product to be cruelty free and 100% vegan. Our footwear is made from recycled plastics, pineapple leaf fibres and hemp. We embrace the industry standard from a different perspective and feel being a sustainable and vegan brand is part of the new modern vision.

3. There is a growing awareness of sustainability within fashion, do you think we need to be doing more to educate people about the impact of using animal materials in fashion?

100%. It is great that consumers have become more aware over the past few years, but there are always more ways to become more conscious. In my eyes, a lot of people are catching onto the slow fashion movement. I don’t even think it’s a fad like some people say, people do actually want to help. We are still in a world of mass production, but people are starting to recognise that you don’t have to support it if you don’t want to. I love fashion, and looking at different designs, but I don’t necessarily buy the items. When the demand drops, so will the supply. Leather products aren’t a by-product of the meat industry, but an entity in themselves. It’s a completely separate industry! There are now more options to purchase alternative vegan materials, which is great to see.

4. What is your process for coming up with new designs? Where do you get your inspiration?

I always take into consideration our bestsellers from previous seasons and develop them into new designs. The whole design process can take up to 8 months. That’s just for one design alone. And it’s even longer now, because we’re still growing, and we want to make sure that each collection is better than the previous one. But you definitely get a thrill out of it. When you’ve put so much time into designing, it’s great to see the finished product. Our Bristol store is also a great way of interacting with customers to know what styles and materials they’re looking for which helps us improve with our design development.

5. What have been some of the main challenges have you faced so far in running your business?

I would say that sourcing sustainable fabrics has been the most challenging. For us the most important thing is that we are able to emulate fabrics that are identical to real leathers that can take a lot of time and trialling. We market our products to both non-vegans and vegans, which is why we don’t want to create “stereotypically vegan” shoes.

6. Collection & Co offers a modern range of footwear and accessories that style-conscious people actually want to wear. Do you think if there were more options like this then vegan fashion could become more mainstream?

I definitely think that there are a lot more options in vegan fashion now than there were a few years ago. I feel Stella McCartney is a great inspiration within high-end fashion. She is forward thinking and created a cruelty-free and stylish brand before everyone else, before the vegan movement began. That being said, I do think existing brands could make a more conscious effort in attempting to create more vegan options / a vegan range. I don’t believe that mainstream brands are going to change completely overnight but they have the option to create more sustainable products if they choose to, which some are already doing and in this sense, is bringing more awareness to vegan fashion.

7. Where do you see your business in the next 5 years?

I’m proud to say that from s/s 20 all of our footwear will be made from 100% recycled materials but in the next 5 years we hope to source sustainable soles and to make a fully recycled shoe! There is unlimited potential streaming from the business and I hope that it will set a trend for future generations and fashion brands to reconsider their approach to the use of animal fabrics and customers to consider the context of what they’re buying into. Our designs have been spotted on VIP celebrities such as 'Riverdale's' Madelaine Petsch, Lucy Watson and Natalie Portman. Which has been a huge achievement so far for our brand! We will always continue to produce limited collections in order to keep our carbon emissions low and continue to influence more independent brands - supporting sustainability and working against fast fashion.