About Skinned Potential
Skinned Potential
Isab works with waste fish skins donated by local fishmongers to transform into leather. Whilst fish leather is not a new material, her aim is to contribute in reframing it within the context of contemporary fashion, to explore its untapped potential. This recognises the fabric not only as a by-product, but a material of unique value with a vast range of unexpected applications for fashion. Her on-going project is about exploring new techniques for material development and innovation within the context of fish leather.
Why Care?
In processing, 20–80% of the fish is discarded as waste. This depends on the species of fish and the level of processing. (Coppola et al., 2021).
…yet 23% of the waste could be valuable for the fashion industry (skin and fins (1–3%), bones (9–15%) and scales (5%)) (Coppola et al., 2021).
Fish leather products can have up to three times the commercial price of products made in cowhide (Sahubawa,L et al., 2021).
Fish Leather has a tensile strength of up to 9x stronger than cow leather (Timmins, 2019)
Sustainability
My work transforms the under-utilised by-product: fish skin, into durable leather for creative fashion. All fabrics to accompany my fish leather are second hand, repurposed items.
Diversity
My garments are designed to be worn by everyone, of all shapes, sizes, races, religions, genders, abilities and everything in between. Please get in contact with me for any requirements and I will do my best to accommodate your needs.
Individuality
As an identical twin, my relationship with individuality has been a thought-provoking one. In my early teenage years I started to realise the power of fashion to express individuality; so I began experimenting with clothes to embrace what made me, me. My garments for Skinned Potential are all totally unique, and formed from creative stories as emotional pieces. I want your individuality to be celebrated and you deserve to stand out for it.
The Skinned Potential Values.
About me, Isab!
Nice to meet you! I'm Isab, a fashion designer who founded Skinned Potential to realise my vision of creating highly creative, yet sustainable fashion pieces to make better use of discarded fish skins. I hold a first class degree at Edinburgh University along with the John.L.Paterson award for my efforts in innovation through fish leather. Furthermore, I have a masters in fashion design at The Royal College of Art. I gained pattern cutting experience at fashion house, Christopher Kane, and developed tailoring skills at Savile Row Academy, as well as leather craftsmanship skills learned from experts in the field. I have over a year's experience working in the fish leather industry at INVERSA Leathers as the Branding and Design Associate. Now I am paving my own path to create a space in fashion where I feel proud to be in, and can't wait to find my community of people who want to be in that space with me.