Shropshire business owner is given clothes a second chance in a sustainable way

The 25-year-old founded Della Yellow to offer customers new way of enjoying unique clothing and the latest trends in a sustainable way.

Ella graduated from Imperial College London where she studied design engineering and specialised in sustainable products and services.

Her business, which launched online last year, provides a bespoke customisation service for clothes that people no longer wear such as transforming jeans into mini skirts.

Ella says she has always enjoyed putting together outfits but was becoming increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of fast fashion.

Every five minutes around 10,000 items of clothing end up in landfill sites across the UK.

And it’s been estimated that we have more than £30 billion of unworn clothes hanging in our wardrobes.

Ella strongly believes that the most sustainable fashion is clothing that already exists and aims to extend its life as much as possible.

“Customers can go on our website and upgrade what they already own. If they’ve got a jumper that they’ve had for a while, they still wear it, it still fits, but it doesn’t excite them anymore, they can send it to us to turn it into a sweater vest which is bang on trend. And they can love it for longer.

“Or if they’ve got a pair of wide leg jeans, they can send them to us to turn into a midi skirt.

“They can make the most of something they already own and get the latest fashions trends,” she tells Weekend.

Della started her business by offering upcycled vintage jeans through limited edition pieces and a bespoke commissions service.

Customers could choose from a collection of re-imagined vintage designer jeans or they can send their favourite jeans to Della Yellow for a makeover.

Since then the business, which in based in London where Ella now lives, has been attracting attention because of its commitment to sustainability

In July 2022, Ella was named in international sustainable lifestyle magazine Sublime’s Top 5 Female Ecopreneurs for 2022.

A few months later, Della Yellow hosted a pop-up store at John Lewis at Westfield London to showcase the sustainable wardrobe options, which proved popular with shoppers.

“It was really exciting because it was the first time we had done an in-store pop-up set up. It was good to meet so many people.

“We can only do so much online. We have to go out, talk to people and get their feedback,” explains Ella, who attended Shrewsbury High School and then Haberdashers’ Adams in Newport.

Ella, who is based at Makerversity work space at Somerset House, works with her team of makers to carry out the customisations.

Customers need to send in items of clothing that still fit because the size of the item will not change.

For example, the waist band on a pair of jeans will have the same measurement when customised into a skirt.

Similarly, the chest measurement on a jacket will be the same when customised into a vest

“The makers have the expertise in repetitive design in non-identical garments.

“We need to customise lots of brands and sizes. It’s a different skillset to what a fashion designer will do. We are following trends to offer customisations that fit what people,” explains Ella. As part of Della Yellow’s zero waste commitment, leftover fabric such as denim is made into tote bags and hair scrunchies.

Earlier this year, Della Yellow was awarded funding from Innovate UK, which helps businesses develop the new products, services and processes they need to grow through innovation.

“It gave us a boost because it meant we could commit to the projects we had and it showed us that other people had confidence in the idea. It was really confidence-boosting,” says Ella, who hails from Wem.

Della Yellow has also joined forces with Loop, a fashion app which showcases the options available to give an item of clothing a second life, including customisation. “The app gives customers a big choice of what to do with their clothing at the end of its life.

“They can resell it, swap it, fix it, donate it or upgrade it into something different which is what we do,” explains Ella, who is looking forward to developing the partnership in the coming months.

Other plans for the future include continuing to keep a close eye on current fashion trends.

“We’re going to review how the service works to keep making sure we’re having a lower environmental impact than you would if you bought a new garment,” says Ella.

But her main goal for business is to help spread the sustainable clothing message even further.

“To be able to provide a way that people get the clothes they want and the look they want in a sustainable way is really exciting.

“And the more people we can offer this option to, the bigger difference we can make,” says Ella.

For more information, see della-yellow.com