The Interview: Suzanne Ellingham on creating a UK show for responsible global sourcing

Suzanne Ellingham is a content and event strategist and for the past six years she has held senior roles at Hyve Group, home of leading UK fashion trade shows Pure London, Scoop and Just Around the Corner. Ellingham spotted an opportunity for the UK to host a fashion sourcing show with a focus on responsible practice. 

She was clearly onto something Source Fashion launched in February 2023 and is back at London Olympia for its third edition from 18-20 February, where suppliers from 25 countries will gather, offering everything from fabrics to accessories, sportswear, footwear, packaging, yarns and trims. Each exhibitor is audited for responsibility and ethics providing peace of mind to the attendees who are drawn from some of the best known brands and retailers in the UK and beyond.

As well as the exhibition, Ellingham is drawing on her expertise to create a compelling content programme including catwalk shows, panel talks and a keynote interview with fashion designer Patrick McDowell.

Before we get onto your plans for the upcoming show, can we go back to the beginning. The idea to stage a sourcing show in the UK was yours. What was the opportunity you saw for Source?

The opportunity was to champion responsibility, globally and create a safe buying space. It’s not just an addition to our show, it is our core value. Beautiful products can be made ethically, and still be profitable, we bring together manufacturers practising environmental, transparent, and fair-trade methods, with brands and retailers looking to source better.

Visitors have the added reassurance of knowing that every exhibitor has been audited to ensure responsibility and transparency remains at the heart of their business model. As a show we want to feel proud to have an entire floor of good businesses who share our values. There is a big appetite for the buying community to have a show like this, it’s a bit of a game changer for buyers, and has universal appeal across the buyer ecosystem.

The show was originally known as Pure Origin and you have now renamed it Source Fashion and you describe it as a platform for bringing a whole range to life. Tell us a bit about that concept please.

It is a little deeper than renaming a show. Covid gave us a little time to reflect on what the sourcing market needed, what they really wanted. It was obvious to us that it was time to go back to the drawing board. We wanted to build a show that brought only the best makers and manufacturers to the show, where responsible and conscious practices were expected of all exhibitors, and not a section. It needed to have a drastically different approach, which is why we started again with Source Fashion.

Source Fashion is home to manufacturers and makers, that can quite literally make anything, they bring their capabilities which means there is no shortage of inspiration, and importantly endless possibilities. Creating a safe space for buyers and designers to find new partners and collaborators. That’s the show we wanted to create, and the response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive.

When you spoke to buyers in the UK, what were their main priorities when it came to the kinds of suppliers they wanted to see at the show?

Innovation and Inspiration, Responsibility and Reliability.

Suppliers from 25 countries will attend the show

Can you please tell us about the suppliers you have at the show? How were they selected, where are they from and how is the show laid out?

The February edition will bring together manufacturers and suppliers from over 25 countries, across a range of sectors including fabrics, apparel, packaging and footwear. Visitors can explore a world of newness, the latest manufacturing and supplier capabilities, and source everything from white-label products to bespoke creation opportunities from audited exhibitors.

Geographic diversity is very important to us. We want to champion the great manufacturers from around the globe from Peru to Cambodia, Pakistan to Portugal, Hong Kong to Italy and Greece all the way back to the UK – and not forgetting the industrial powerhouses like China, India and Turkey. We are also welcoming some new, emerging markets such as Mongolia, Tanzania and Lithuania, as they exhibit for the first time at Source Fashion. Working closely with trade bodies means we can do all the due diligence!

The show floor is broadly laid out by geographical location. We will never have a sustainable section at our shows, not because we don’t believe in it, but because we believe it should be business as usual for everyone. And that everyone in our show should be a good, responsible business who is working on their transparency, accountability and is fundamentally doing good with their business practices.

We have created a new area called Source Luxury, an edit of the super high-quality manufacturers and artisans using the highest quality materials and exceptional craftsmanship.

Suppliers at the show must have had a recent audit

Clearly brands need to be very careful about their supplier base, how do you ensure the brands you have at the show operate to high ethical standards?

We work with government funding bodies and export agencies from around the world, and we talk candidly about the simple reality that good manufacturers will do more business at our show. For many of these manufacturers to secure funding, the export agencies vet them to ensure they meet our standards. And all exhibitors are required to have had a recent audit from Sedex or a recognisable audit institution in the last 12 months. We can’t do every regulation, but we can do the best we can in making sure that the factories we work with have good labour processes. Sustainability is so much more than a carbon foot print reduction, we want fundamentally good businesses at our show.

Are there any new suppliers or sections to the show that you can highlight for the next edition?

There’s a brilliant mix of returning and new exhibitors a February’s Source Fashion. Some of our highlights include:

Jonon – Mongolian wool and cashmere manufacturer.

We have a selection of Mongolian exhibitors at Source Fashion in February, the very first time Mongolia has been represented at the show. One of those exhibitors includes Jonon. Their goal is to introduce high-quality Mongolian wool and cashmere products worldwide; and to do so ethically. They’re committed to being an eco-friendly, socially responsible company as they work with and support the business activities of a range of people from herder families to small and medium sized manufacturers. Their precious wool is sourced by hand-combing each yak, goat and camel individually every year, when the animals shed their winter coats. This process is completely renewable and sustainable. The animals grow a new fleece each year and survive on self-replenishing vegetation.

Walter Reginald – UK Leather supplier.

We’re excited to be increasing the amount of UK exhibitors at the show. Returning for their third show in a row, Walter Reginald produce a wide range of finished leathers, suedes and sheepskins are ideal for garments, footwear, leathergoods, handbags, interiors and costumes. Since 1948, their family-run business has been stocking and supplying leather to big brands, independent designers, retailers and direct to consumer. They work with Artisan tanneries around the World to offer a variety of classic and unusual leathers.' Many of their tanneries are certified by the Leather Working Group. They are on hand to advise you on the best leather options for your project and offer a bespoke matching and development service.

A trends catwalk sits at the heart of the show

One of the things that makes Source Fashion a stand out from other sourcing shows, is the fact you place a catwalk in the show and stage great content sessions, please tell us what you have in store for February and why the content is so important.

Creating a show like this gives us the opportunity to create a platform for people to have the discussions about the future of fashion, sustainability, how to do good business, and sharing experiences. Our content programme brings together industry experts to discuss the challenges of responsibility in fashion, and we’ll be looking at regeneration, reuse, repurposing, B Corp certification, trends, new materials and processes, transparency, and accountability, and so much more. We intend to make our agenda a platform for discussion around the topics where there is no defined right and wrong, simply businesses that are moving forward and are brave enough to share their learnings.

The Source Catwalk, influenced by AW25 trends, will showcase responsibly made garments brought together to flaunt the materials of the future. Why do we love this catwalk? It’s not just a showcase on the show floor, but really about us showing what sustainable fashion looks like today, moving away from conceptual to what’s being achieved now. Offering inspiration and new ideas to inspire and also show what responsible fashion really looks like. We work with graduate designers, our design partner, our amazing stylist and creative team, who are as passionate as we are.

And, our designer collaboration for this season is Patrick McDowell, a leading voice on the global fashion stage embodying the mission for reinventing luxury through a sustainable mindset.

Clearly sustainability is a huge focus for all brands and for consumers, how do you address this at Source Fashion and help brands improve their sustainable credentials?

Championing sustainability and positive change is incredibly important to us. We make it clear in our exhibitor list what companies have sustainable initiatives, making it easy for visitors to identify them if they’d like to, and promote any unique stories via our marketing channels in the run up to the show.

However, Sustainability means different things to different people. It’s not just about carbon footprint, or materials, or energy. It should be seen through a holistic lens, and ask … is this company moving forward in all of these areas, not just one?  What we really want to champion is transparency. Not just with our manufacturers but with the brands they work with. Let’s talk about where we are now, and targets for where we want to go, so that every company’s sustainability initiatives are in the open. With transparency comes accountability, and accountability means change. That is what we want to really champion.

Visitors are expected from some of fashion's leading names

Can you tell us a bit about the kind of visitors the show attracts and how that is evolving and growing?

We will welcome teams in Buying, Sourcing, Procurement and Sustainability, as well as Designers, Product Developers, Supply Chain Managers and a wealth of other industry professionals through the doors at Source Fashion in February. We’ve seen the number of big retailers and brands that are attending grow from show to show, and have 34 of the top 50 fashion retailers in the UK registered already for February – including John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, ASOS, Joules, Next, Tu Clothing, Ann Summers, French Connection, Lacoste and Moss Bros, as well as teams from PepsiCo, Harrods, Vivienne Westwood, Urban Outfitters, Chanel, Burberry and many more.

You are back at Olympia, which is undergoing a radical revamp. Please tell us why this location works so well for you.

Olympia London has been our home since we launched last February. Bringing together the entire fashion supply chain under one roof in one of the world’s fashion capitals, London, makes sense to us. With the development of hotels, a music arena, theatre, art school and much more well underway, Olympia London is truly becoming a destination far beyond an event space. Event visitors and exhibitors will enjoy a richer experience and extended stay with evening entertainment, a wealth of dining options, and quality accommodation onsite.

Source Fashion, takes place at London Olympia 18-20 February. Register to attend here. 

In proud partnership with