It has been a strange year, with more lockdowns and restrictions but there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. We’ve been working quietly away at several new projects which we look forward to sharing with you during 2022.

Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for our designs and the wonderful textiles from the communities we work with in northern Vietnam. We will introduce you to more of our producers in the coming year and to the artisan textiles they produce.

We wish you all a happy lunar new year, may it be filled with good health, good fortune and good friends!

All the best

Cynthia & the Future Traditions team

Happy new year to all!

Let’s hope that 2021 will be kinder to everyone and that we, in turn, will be kinder to the earth.

Perhaps still under the spell of the festive season, these winter berries remind of the winters of my childhood, my family and the winter colour my mother would bring in from the garden.  I think we are all missing family and friends this year, but as we head into the lead up to TET we have much to be grateful for here in Hanoi and the relative normality within which we live.

Future Traditions has always been about quality not quantity, about ethical practices and about minimising waste, but we all need to do more, do more to use less!

Let’s be mindful of what is happening around us, for those who have lost their livelihoods through the pandemic and let’s live our intentions and not let them languish in forgotten new year’s resolutions.

So as winter well and truly sets into Hanoi, enjoy layering up in hats and scarves and winter coats (my chance to live in my FT silk velvet shawl), enjoy the excitement and atmosphere of Vietnam preparing for TET, but also remember that our community and our environment needs our care and we must take shared responsibility for this.

All the best for 2021

Cynthia and team FT

It’s that time again, Christmas is coming!

This year, more than most, I think most of us need all the Christmas cheer we can muster and we need to share it around.

As has become a tradition, Future Traditions will open its showroom on the 12th and 13th December and be joined by some of our small business and artisan friends to bring you a wonderful selection of treats and handcrafted gifts for Christmas.  We’ll also have some fabulous reductions on our collection.

So come and join us in the festivities, have a glass of gluwein;  browse the beautiful products from Better World;  and sample and take home some of the Hanoi Cooking Centre’s delicious mince pies. This year we have beautiful recycled glass products from DQGR and textiles from Hoa Tien Brocade.  And we might manage a few more surprises.

See you on the 12th and 13th!

Cynthia & the Future Traditions team

It’s a big weekend ahead in Hanoi.  The new school year has well and truly started, border restrictions have relaxed a little so families who had been living here prior to Covid, have now been able to return.  The first of the typhoons has arrived, bringing with it cooler weather.  Autumn is here.

So this weekend, from 9am – 5pm on Saturday,we’ll be at the Maison Art Market.  This is a semi regular market in the beautiful courtyard of Tet Maison Restaurant with artisans and independent designers showing their wares.

Then on Sunday we will be opening the showroom from 1 – 5pm to welcome the UNIS community as part of their Community Connections Program.  It will be an opportunity for newcomers to learn about what we do and why we do it.  We’re delighted to have folk from Hoa Tien Brocade bringing some of their fabulous products, as well as running an introductory dyeing workshop where participants will design and dye a scarf to take home.

So if you’re in Hanoi this weekend drop in and see us.  There’ll be great coffee at both venues and cake too!

See you soon

Cynthia

In May, in the midst of Covid, we ran our RENEW, REVAMP and REPAIR campaign.  Renew your commitment to quality, fairtrade and sustainability. Revamp and Repair to give longevity, no waste and help the environment.

For Secondhand September we’d like to inspire you with a project we were very busy with this time last year, in collaboration with Huong Dinh from the charity Pure VN, their consignment and thrift Papa Shop and the gorgeous Vũ Quỳnh Trang, Ms Universe Vietnam entrant for Nam Định.

What grew out of a casual conversation turned into a wonderful opportunity to raise community awareness about the possibilities of slow fashion.  Through her involvement in the Ms Universe competition, Trang wanted to focus attention on ethical and sustainable fashion and support the community at the same time.

Trang’s challenge to Pure VN and Future Traditions was to make an evening or cocktail dress to wear in the competition, made from clothes that had been donated to Pure VN’s Papa Store.

Our first challenge was to go through bags of clothing that had been donated to the Papa Shop to find items we could work with:

• garments with enough fabric for us to do something with
• clothing made from fabric that was suitable for evening wear
• pieces of clothing that matched in some way so we could put them together

We came up with 5 designs and narrowed this down to two gowns to make.  Following is the thrift shop clothing we used, the designs and the completed dresses:

Golden GODET PLEAT COCKTAIL Dress

In order to get enough fabric, we turned the slip upside down and inserted the feature ethnic Thai godet pleats in what had been the bodice of the slip.  The feature fabric is a vintage piece of ethnic Thai handwoven cotton that we had at Future Traditions.  We were lucky to find a blouse in a matching colour and this is what we used for the bodice.  Whilst the fabrics are different, separated by the stripes, the difference in hue is not noticeable.

Black’n’White GODDESS Gown

On the left is a tube stretch fabric that had been made into a scarf (seen folded in two here) – this became the body of the dress.  On the right is a dress made of a semi-sheer stretch fabric which we used for the sleeves and the lining.

Congratulations go to Trang, who at 22, is the founder, CEO and spokesperson for Vic Vietnam International – an organization specializing in the design of extracurricular programs abroad for Vietnamese students. Her dream is to build and develop Vietnamese education. She finished in the top 10 and was crowned Ms Bravery.

Plans to further develop this project were stalled by Covid, but we hope that to bring you new developments in the not-too-distant future.

So echoing Trang’s advocacy for greater consciousness in how we think and participate in fashion, our message for September is buy sustainable, slow fashion and renew, revamp and repair!

Check out the fabulous small independent fashion houses that are keeping production runs contained, with minimal waste and environmentally friendly practices.

And if you have clothes that need a revamp, adjustment or repair, bring them into the showroom and we’ll help you make them wearable again.

Cheers
Cynthia

Future Traditions is committed to supporting artisan textile producers, commissioning new textiles and re-purposing and recycling existing fabrics, to create heirloom pieces featuring the exquisite textiles of northern Vietnam.

This traditional pattern is being woven again!

We said watch this space and here it is!

It will be a little different to the older, existing fabrics.  Now, the thread being used for the warp is commercially spun cotton and only the weft will be handspun cotton.  There are technical reasons for this relating to the quality and strength of the local cotton being grown.  But the locally grown, handspun yarn will give it some of the texture of the original fabrics.

Hoa Tien Brocade found one of their weavers (living some distance away) still knew how to make this pattern and she is currently in the process of teaching both Bich and Tinh how to weave it, so the tradition will continue.

Here you can see Bich and the beginnings of the weaving.

Future Traditions’ mission is to support the continued production of “at risk” textiles.  So whilst we repurpose existing fabrics, our goal is also to commission new fabric to be made.  Sometimes this is easier said than done.  The stunning ethnic textile panel in the photograph is a vintage example of the hand loom fabric that the ethnic Thai feature in their traditional skirts.  It is a pattern that I began a love affair with many years ago.

Over time it has become increasingly rare as new fabric was not being made and the search has been on to find a weaver who knew how to make this pattern.

And the GREAT NEWS is, that with the help of Sam Thi Tinh at Hoa Tien Brocade, we have found someone who knows how to weave this pattern and we have commissioned it to be made. Better still the weaver will teach others how to make it. So this significant textile will not be lost to future generations.

Watch this space for more news on the process and finished product.  We are VERY EXCITED !

#sustainability #handloom #atrisk #madetolast #traditionaltextiles#fashionrevolution

Dear friends,

What a strange first few months of the year, nothing has been the same since the lunar New Year break.  But locked down, in isolation, working from home or not working at all, these are the strangest times many of us have ever lived through.  It changes perspectives, creates awareness and for those of us who have rooves over our heads and food on our tables, makes us really appreciate how fortunate we are.   It is a really tough time but if we can stay in touch, spread any work available around and think carefully about where we spend our money so it does the most good, we can survive this.

The Great Pause, as it is being called, also draws attention to what we really “need” in our lives.  Lots of reflection, discussion and connection have been a result.

So, in this week of FASHION REVOLUTION we want to draw attention to small, sustainable actions we can all do.

For the month of May we are going to help you to RENEW, REVAMP and REPAIR.  Renew your commitment to quality, fairtrade and sustainability. Revamp and Repair to give longevity, no waste and help the environment.

So if you’ve cleaned out your wardrobe and have some old favourites that you can’t bear to part with but you no longer wear because they need a revamp, adjustment or repair, bring them into the showroom and we’ll help you make them wearable again. Let’s bring the “black arts” of darning and repairs back into vogue.

Let’s renew, revamp, repair and to quote Vivienne Westwood “Buy less. Choose well. Make it last. Quality, not quantity.”

We are all in this together and we can make a difference.

Cheers
Cynthia

Future Traditions is committed to supporting artisan textile producers, commissioning new textiles and re-purposing and recycling existing fabrics, to create heirloom pieces featuring the exquisite textiles of northern Vietnam.