The Making Of

Paradisefold is a fashion and lifestyle brand specialising in silk clothes, hair wraps. We design and make everything by hand, in pure mulberry silk, limited editions, in London. We are also carbon positive, meaning we remove more carbon than we create.

"I never wanted to make things quickly. I wanted to make things that last, and that means every piece passes through real hands, in no particular hurry. That's the whole idea of Paradisefold." — Andrea, Founder & Creative Director

The fabric

We focus on using natural biodegradable fibres, like bamboo, cottons and silk. Our favourite fabric which we use across our range, is mulberry silk. It's produced by the Bombyx mori silkworm and fed exclusively on white mulberry leaves. That controlled diet yields a fibre of rare consistency and purity: it's the only silk to reach Grade 6A, the highest classification there is. We work with 19 momme silk: it's substantial enough to drape, and fine enough to feel like nothing at all.

The process behind the cut

Every Paradisefold piece begins long before it reaches the studio floor.

Andrea conceptualises our products.  She develops the idea slowly: what the piece is for, how it should feel to wear, what it needs to do. The Fold is the clearest example of where this leads. It isn't a square of silk; it's a bespoke design, bias-cut, that we have developed, tested and honed over years. Cutting on the bias (across the grain of the fabric) gives the silk a gentle stretch and a way of moving with the head rather than against it, so a Fold wraps closely, holds securely, and stays put through a night's sleep. That's not an accident of the fabric. It's the result of years of refining a single idea.

Garance, who works from France, leads our print development. She has spent her career creating prints for established fashion houses. Once a concept is set, she translates it into pattern and colour — each print drawn, refined and considered against the silk it will live on, because a print behaves differently on a fabric that moves and catches the light. The concept gives the print its brief; Garance gives it its character.

Londoner Charly brings a tailoring background and runs her own label alongside her work with us. She takes the concept and the print and develops them into a finished garment, and her discipline shows everywhere you'd hope it would: in French seams, fully enclosed so there's no raw edge against the skin; in a lined bra, built in rather than added on; in real pockets; in a wide leg with room to move; in more than one length, because a garment should fit the person, not the other way around. The principle underneath all of it is simple: women should feel comfortable in beautiful clothes. Comfort and beauty were never meant to be a trade-off.

We design in limited editions, not endless ranges. It's a slower way to work, and a deliberate one — it means every concept, every print and every pattern gets the attention it deserves.

Handmade in London

From there, a piece moves to the studio floor.

Our makers are small, family-owned ateliers in North and East London, the same workrooms that have handled sampling and production for high-end British fashion brands for years. They've grown alongside those brands, and they've grown alongside us. It's a relationship measured in years, not orders.

Here, a piece is cut, stitched, layered and finished by hand. The pattern-cutter works first, translating each design into the precise shapes that will become a Fold, a Turban or a garment. Then the machinist — setting every seam, joining the layers, shaping the finished piece. It's quiet, exacting work, and it's where everything designed in the previous step becomes real.

The finishing touches

The last details are small, and they matter.

Every piece carries a woven Paradisefold label. The elasticated band on each Turban and Fold is made in the UK and is latex-free — chosen for comfort and a secure, gentle hold. And every piece arrives in packaging made in Britain: compostable, recycled or FSC-certified, down to the elastic, the boxes and the tissue paper.

Made to last, and cared for

Our work doesn't end when your piece is boxed.

Every Paradisefold piece (except hair ties!) comes with a free lifetime care and repair service free alterations. If a thread loosens, a hem needs moving, or a piece simply needs attention, it comes back to us, and we look after it.

This is also where our carbon commitment comes full circle. The most sustainable garment is the one that doesn't need replacing, so a brand that removes more carbon than it creates, and builds pieces to last a lifetime, is doing the same thing twice. Making well and caring for what's made are, in the end, the same idea.

Explore [Stories collection] · Read about [our sustainability] · See [our carbon report]