About

Jackie Andrews-Udall

Jackie is an experienced freelance consultant who has worked for many Luxury brands, textile mills, academic institutions and governmental organisations.

A qualified textile designer and engineer , she was one of the first to go on to study “fashion and the environment” at the ENSAA Duperre, in Paris. She trained as an intern with Karl Lagerfeld, where she then worked as a textile designer and license manager, observing and learning the dynamics of the Luxury industry from one of the most iconic of designers.

She then set up her own textile studio specialising in colour, “Metissages”, working for the likes of Peclers, Yves St laurent, Christian Lacroix, Elitis, Nobilis Fontan, Disney until she moved to London to live with her partner.

Basing her personal practise as “the textile library” in a studio at Cockpit Arts, she worked for international clients such as Itochu fashion system in Japan, Peclers Paris where she designed the colour books with Dominique Mettraux, Solbiati Sasil in Italy designing the linen and cashmere lines, Rena Lange in Germany, Istvan Francer, Gruppo Maska in Italy and finally Lanvin in Paris where she was employed as Head of Fabrics working closely with Alber Elbaz.

The Textile Library allowed her to explore fabrics made by hand, such as Indian cotton Khadi, using block printing and techniques such as rust printing, lacquer and plaster printing; she fell in love with indigo and the depth of lustre it could reach; these more experimental pieces were sold to Aquascutum, Lanvin and Comme des Garcons…and she made historical designs for Farmacia Santa Maria Novella.

She then became Head of textiles and procurement for Stella McCartney, then part of Gucci group, and supported by Marco Bizzarri then CEO of the brand, was allowed to found a sustainable sourcing pool for the group to start buying organic fabrics “en masse” and dye and finish them to organic standards. Our first sustainable capsule was bought by Barneys in New York, using recycled polyesters, upcycled stock needlepunched together, upcycled embroidery materials using deadstock from within Gucci group, organic fabric and khadi cotton. From then on sustainability has become synonymous with the Stella McCartney brand and Mr Bizzarri has carried sustainable ethics across to Gucci today.

Jackie left Luxury to work for Simone Cipriani at the United Nations, helping found the strategy for his Ethical Fashion Initiative. It was a groundbreaking experience, brokering public-private partnerships to use fashion as a tool for social empowerment. Since 2009, she has built a network within sustainability for textiles and has enabled brands, institutions and mills to practise ethically and environmentally. As sustainability ambassador for Clerici Tessuto she has touched many buying teams and most recently for CMO Paris, she has turned recycled waste made from waste papers in Delhi into fabric for luxurious interiors.

She has taught at Royal College of Art, the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne and currently lectures at Central St Martins, promoting sustainable design practise.

Attending many conferences, she has spoken at the United Nations JAG, in Geneva, at Premiere Class in Berlin, at London fashion Week, Premiere Vision Paris, the Society of Dyers and Colourists in London…

She is happy to share her knowledge of textiles and spread eco-awareness, believing strongly in how interconnected we are and how we must use collaborative, collective creativity to save nature…now.