Bradford City FC Community Foundation and Yorkshire Women’s Forum host fashion show celebrating sustainability

Bradford City FC Community Foundation, the official charity of Bradford City AFC, and the Yorkshire Women’s Forum, a local community organisation, hosted a unique fashion show which celebrated Bradford’s rich heritage, and the importance of sustainable fashion.

Held at Mbanq Valley Parade, the ‘Threads Together’ fashion show welcomed hundreds of attendees from across the district. It featured a sustainable fashion showcase, highlighting and celebrating a range of items from across Bradford’s cultural and textile history.

Lizzie Saunderson-Trowell, Bradford City FC Community Foundation CEO, said: “At the heart of this project has been the themes of sustainability, community, and cultural identity, and the ‘Threads Together’ fashion show celebrated all three of them. Nothing that we have achieved would have been possible without the Yorkshire Women’s Forum. Getting to know the Forum, working together to bring this event to life, seeing its generation in real time and being able to tell a story about sustainability, fashion, cultural heritage and this city’s rich textile history was an opportunity we could not pass up. The show was a fantastic success, one which reflected the many communities that make our city such a vibrant and inspiring place to be. That we were able to welcome a range of people to our home on Valley Parade to celebrate this work is a huge source of pride for us at the Foundation, and we look forward to a fruitful and inspirational working relationship with the Yorkshire Women’s Forum in the future.”

Clothing items featured in the show included upcycled and ethically inspired designs, blending traditional influences with contemporary style, while offering attendees the chance to learn more about the impact fast fashion has on our communities, environment and the world around us.

Tanu Patel, Managing Director at the Yorkshire Women’s Forum, said: “If ever there was an event which brought together community cohesion, sisterhood and sustainability, the ‘Threads Together’ fashion show was it. A lot of our attendees had never been to anything like this, had never walked a catwalk, and we were able to provide that opportunity, which is a great source of pride. Everyone who came had fun, learnt something and formed a deeper connection with our work and our city’s football club. I’d like to thank the Bradford City FC Community Foundation for their immense support and commitment to social cohesion in our city.”

The clothing items on display were made by the Yorkshire Women’s Forum, who are based at Lister Mills, an historic textile mill which was at one time the largest silk factory in the world, in the Manningham area of the city.

Garments were also supplied by Bradford College as part of the Bradford Re-Made project, which challenged students to transform Bradford City AFC training kits into a series of experimental fashion outcomes. 

During the course of the show, over 90 models displayed clothing items, with the models’ ages ranging from 14 to 86.

The ‘Threads Together’ fashion show was also supported by Stachiw Bashir Solicitors and Another Way Women's Foundation.

All proceeds from the show, which included ticket sales as well as items, including clothes, jewellery and accessories sold at a bazaar hosted at the venue, raised over £5,000 for the Yorkshire Women’s Forum’s ‘Period Poverty Project’. The funds will provide essential products and support to women and girls in the Bradford district.

More on the Yorkshire Women’s Forum:

Yorkshire Women’s Forum CIC is committed to supporting women through creative workshops and sustainability-focused projects, with an aim to enable women to nurture their mental health and wellbeing through creativity.