I am studying fine art on the weekends, and that’s seen us expand into collaborating with artists. It began with the prints of John Coburn for two collections, then a season with Nathan Patterson, and then our latest collection with Melbourne abstract expressionist painter Kerry Armstrong.

Manning Cartell has always been about pushing boundaries, and working to scale with an artist’s prints in clothing take skill and creativity. I do sometimes think about starting a swimwear line. I don’t think anybody is offering bold and sexy swim pieces and telling that story.

Bianca Spender

I made a commitment to use dead stock in 2018 and set a quota that 50 per cent of the styles at Bianca Spender had to be created from disused fabrics. Fabrics used to get burnt, or sit in factories for a long time, but now we are seeing a second market for dead-stock fabrics and that excites me.

We had to shift the way we were thinking about designing garments as a result. It’s like making a meal out of the ingredients you have in your fridge. We have two suppliers who travel sourcing the fabrics, perhaps left over from Marc Jacobs or Tory Burch collections, or whichever designers they can get their hands on.

I am committed to using this precious resource. Fashion’s greatest impact in terms of carbon footprint has always been the fabric, so I see it as a real obligation to re-use it. It’s such a mind shift for us to have limited resources rather than any amount we want.

I believe in creativity, and having this limitation in fabric makes you more ingenious. Some seasons I find great wool but nothing that has stretch, so I have to rethink which designs will work. It’s all about responding to ingredients.

There’s always a narrative in my collections. The last one centred around the idea of softness. So, when I look for dead-stock fabrics, I hunt for those that have a roundness rather than angular shapes. Sometimes I have to splice up fabrics because there’s not enough to make one garment.

We’ve phased out synthetic materials from our collections and integrated fabrics made in Australia from knit mills such as MTK in Melbourne, who also sell to Balenciaga and Celine. I am all about supporting the full chain.

Karen Walker

One of the reasons we’re still in business after more than 35 years is because we keep innovating. You don’t get to have a long career if you don’t build that into your practice. You have to constantly pre-empt change before it hits you on the back of your head.

We are now in our seventh season with New Zealand’s Blunt Umbrellas. I wouldn’t try to make an umbrella that can withstand 130km/h winds, but I do like collaborating on prints. And I’ve collaborated with Fijian artisans Rise Beyond the Reef, using their crafts and materials, including native pandanus leaf, to create bags. Their skill set is so unique and innovative.

I also work with Australian brands Outland Denim and Papinelle Sleepwear. The latter came about when our teams met in an airline lounge, leading to this beautiful relationship. They bring real skill around making a perfect pyjama and we bring our intensity of colour to give it a fresh look.

At Karen Walker, we make ready-to-wear, jewellery, bags, shoes and eyewear. It hasn’t just been about clothes for a long time. It’s fashion, and you have to keep throwing yourself forward. Technology changes all the time, and you have to move with that. I use biodegradable acetate for our eyewear. If the glasses break beyond repair, you can put them in the bin and they won’t take 5000 years to break down. Innovation, to me, is about being responsible with your decision-making.

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