Wolftress Launch: Australian Ecofashion Warriors

Wolftress is an Aussie ecofashion label that we have been obsessed with since we first spied their badass Pachamama sleeveless vest. The label works directly with local artisans in different areas of the world for each collection, creating pieces that are both incredibly au courant and also timeless, as materials and patterns used have been part of various traditional societies for hundreds of years or more.

As travellers, storytellers and designers Wolftress wander the world in search of unique crafts and artistry. Getting swept up in the magic of ancient cultures and immersing themselves into vibrant worlds; the music, dances, stories and wisdom inspire a fusion of history, culture and design.

We believe in supporting their economic sustainability and the continuation of their craft – preserving high-quality skills from ancient cultures that have been passed down through countless generations.

Case in point: For their latest collection, “We Are Warriors” the designers behind Wolftress worked with the Bai people of rural Zhoucheng, China, which you can read about here.

The Bai artisans creating patterns and textiles with their bare hands. Stitching and dyeing our fabrics to create our YIN and YANG fabrics.

Who are the Bai?

Bai artisans…practice their trade from within their own homes. The Bai have a strong history in the region and are known for their artistic creativity including architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and other craft techniques such as lacquer work. While a minority in China, there are still close to 2 million Bai individuals residing in China.

Wolftress Launch event party. Image by Giulia Moretti. 

My aunt (Susan Moretti) and cousin (Giulia Moretti) live in Sydney, Australia, and kindly attended the Wolftress launch party to give me a first-hand account of what the line was like (and who was into it). Here were their impressions of the superhot Wolftress launch event.

The people: a real mix; ages from 20 to 40 mainly with a few oldies thrown in 50-65. Many were designer dressed, expensive, non-mainstream. All very polite given the crammed situation. Lots of photographers.

The Wolftress collection: LOVED it!

Wolftress hangtag. Image by Giulia Moretti.

Fabrics: Loved the fabrics used: the detailed outside stitching, the easy comfortable looking but structured designs. Simple, clean lines which highlighted the textured fabrics with some beautiful edging and stitching details.

Colors: indigo blue/off white/gold/black

Pieces: Loose, wide, flowy fabric pants some in black some in off white with a wide waist band made of beautiful gold stitched fabric.

Structured designed tops again some in black, some in white.

The bralette. Image by Giulia Moretti. 

Triangle shaped bra tops in the patterned indigo blue/off white (This is the Chinese traditional method they found of dying with patterns) with gold stitching.

Loose sleeveless longish jackets (would just cover your bum) in either plain off white or the indigo/off white pattern.

Gold knitted sleeveless tops, semi see through.

Ancient Soul Jumpsuit

Sleeveless one piece pant suits (flowy wide pants).

I love it all, but stand outs for me were the bra tops, pants with gold waist bands and the indigo/white jackets. The pant suits looked like they’d be gorgeous on a tallish person. I adored the hints of gold and gold stitching; really set some of the pieces off.

One of the models is an ex school friend of Giulia’s. We chatted with her and she was saying how incredibly comfortable the clothes were, remarked especially about the flowy pants she had on with the elasticised gold waist band, super comfy. She had the open fronted sleeveless indigo jacket on and said it was so easy to wear you could sleep in it with the deep open cut arm holes.

The vest. In this image by Giulia Moretti, you can really see the lovely texture on this fabric. 

Many thanks to Susan and Giulia for their thoughts and images from the event!