With her background in interiors, Jules witnessed firsthand the distressing proliferation of discarded textile materials and resolved to do something about it. And so, in 2018, armed with a modest budget (and juggling the responsibilities of a part-time job and two children under 3-years-old), she embarked on a mission to establish a brand that could enact meaningful change.
Five years on, Haines Collection has emerged as a beacon of hope in the industry, empowering interiors businesses to embark on a journey of positive change and mitigate their impact on our planet by pioneering a remarkable platform dedicated to the resale of discarded textiles, wallpaper, lights, and accessories that would otherwise find their way to the grim depths of landfills.
**Heralded by Forbes as, “The Platform Presenting a New Era for UK Textiles” and the proud recipient of House & Garden’s ‘Responsible Design Award 2023’, we sat down with Jules to hear about her remarkable journey – where it all began, the highlights along the way, and where her war on waste will be taking her next.
Why did you start Haines and what were you doing before?
JH Previously I worked for a textile designer and learnt firsthand about the huge volumes of waste in the interiors industry. I also experienced that it can be very frustrating for a business not to know how to rehome its surplus responsibly. The idea really solidified after a chance meeting in my local town. I came across an upholsterer and curtain maker who had a pop-up shop to sell off their fabric offcuts and roll ends leftover from projects. Chatting to him helped me understand that it was costing businesses money to store their surplus, and arranging a sale took up precious time and often they barely broke even. He was my first supplier! I started a beautiful resale platform that would save brands time and money as well as helping to reduce the chances of homeware and textiles ending up in landfill. As well as being kind to the planet, the beauty of buying of secondhand fabrics and accessories is that they are like new and around half the usual retail price! It’s a win win for all!
How has the concept evolved since its launch? We started off simply reselling textiles, but we have now expanded into wallpaper, lights, rugs, furniture and accessories. We often come across strange-shaped offcuts which we make up into cushions or lampshades. We are passionate about showing people that a small piece of fabric can be reused in many ways.
How many metres of fabric have you saved from landfill since you began? To date we have rehomed over 24,000 metres of fabrics! Not to mention the wallpaper and accessories we have re-sold too.
Tell us more about the new arm of the business, Haines Curates? Haines Curates launched in March 2022, with the ambition of being a place that unites a select community of visionary designers and homeware providers, all committed to placing environmental impact and waste reduction at the very core of their operations. By curating this extraordinary collective, we’re fostering a thriving ecosystem where sustainability and impeccable craftsmanship intertwine, breathing new life into discarded treasures and redefining the very essence of conscientious design.
Do you have plans to go global? Yes! We are planning on expanding our presence in America. We have a strong customer base there already, but would love to be working with brands and suppliers to help them lower their impact and reduce their waste. It’s top of my agenda for this year – any US readers out there who are keen to join the mission, I’d love to hear from you.
We love your collection with Gabby Deeming’s Daydress brand. How did the collaboration come about? I started speaking to Gabby from Daydress last year about a surplus of last season’s fashion fabrics that she thought could potentially be repurposed into soft furnishings, we work with a number of luxury fabric brands selling fabrics and offcuts that include defective prints and end of line designs, rehoming these with customers and interior designers who are conscious about their environmental footprint and prefer to re-use rather than buy new. Working with Gabby, we’ve be able to take this beautifully made, hand block -printed fabric and repurpose it for an interiors audience selling a variety of prints by the metre. It’s a wonderful fabric to use for small soft furnishing projects – and we’ve also created our own ready-made capsule collection of cushions and lampshades so that you can now bring Daydress textiles straight into your home.
What’s the favourite thing you’ve made with a rescued piece of fabric? It would have to be my beautiful Naturalmat bed wich we made in collaboration. The fabric is a beautiful Christopher Farr Cloth, in a navy and orange stripe. It came to us in strange shaped pieces but lucky the team made it work and upholstered the whole headboard and bed frame – it’s stunning! Our fabric paired with the natural bed and mattress – I’d like to think it’s the most sustainable bed ever made!
Be stylish and sustainable
An environmentally conscious home doesn’t have to be a compromise, it can be both seriously stylish and wonderfully unique. If you want to be part of the movement towards conscious design, visit ‘Haines Collection’ and be inspired by the world of making possibilities there is to explore. To get you started, here are some creative project ideas and beautiful fabric that caught our eye.
The perfect fabric for… …creating a headboard Lowri, Little Check Cotton – Lilac Part of Haines’ own curated sustainability collection ‘Haines Curates’, this charming cotton fabric by designer Lowri draws inspiration from Welsh woven blankets. With its hand painted small scale check pattern, we think it would make the most joyful of headboards. Learn how to make your own headboard with Micaela Sharp’s course ‘A Complete Guide to Modern Upholstery’
…making a cafe curtain Daydress, Folk Stripe – Pink This beautiful floral stripe is from a limited collection in collaboration with Create Academy’s instructor Gabby Deeming’s brand, Daydress. An original pattern from the brand’s fashion archive repurposed for interiors use, it would make the prettiest under-counter curtain. Learn how to make your own curtains with Gemma Moulton’s course ‘How to Make Beautiful Curtains’
…reupholstering a chair Nina Campbell, Jardiniere Dapuri – Red/Blue This super-pretty floral from Nina Campbell has such a wealth of detail with sprigs of poppies, carnations and tulips. In classic Nina style the colour palette is utterly divine too, and would look seriously striking as a cover to a comfy armchair. Learn how to make your own headboard with Micaela Sharp’s course ‘A Complete Guide to Modern Upholstery’
