Exploring Manchester’s Textile Legacy at Manchester Fashion Week
On 11 September 2026, I will be presenting ‘Cotton Chains’ as part of Manchester Fashion Week 2026, an exhibition exploring Manchester’s deep-rooted textile heritage, the history of cotton production and the ongoing connections between historical and modern-day exploitation within the fashion industry.
Manchester is a city shaped by textiles. Once known as “Cottonopolis”, its mills, factories and global trade networks transformed the city into one of the world’s most influential centres of textile production. However, behind this industrial success lies a more complex story, one shaped by the labour, resources and communities that made the cotton industry possible.
Cotton Chains explores cotton’s journey through Manchester, from industrial growth and economic prosperity to the human cost hidden within the supply chain. The exhibition considers how the histories woven into our clothing continue to influence the fashion industry today, highlighting the connections between materials, people and global systems.
Through a combination of textiles, fashion and visual art, I will use storytelling to uncover the relationship between Manchester’s textile past and contemporary challenges around exploitation, transparency and responsibility within fashion. The exhibition will feature my own large-scale textile artworks and garments, alongside historical research and authentic archival materials.
By bringing together historical evidence and contemporary textile practice, Cotton Chains aims to create a space for reflection, asking us to consider not only where our clothes come from, but whose stories, labour and histories are embedded within them. The historical materials, archives and expertise that I source aim to help shape the narrative of the exhibition and ensure these stories are represented with care and accuracy.
Join me on 11 September 2026 during Manchester Fashion Week for the presentation of Cotton Chains.
Through textiles, fashion and visual storytelling, the exhibition invites audiences to reflect on the connections between the garments we wear, the people who make them and the histories woven into every material.
I look forward to sharing this story and inviting you to explore how Manchester’s textile past can help shape a more conscious future for fashion.