Community reporter and Fashion Designer Victoria Lammie caught up with Jazz Rohde and Millie Coiley from the contemporary fashion brand ‘Jillies’ to find out about their creative identity, conscious design and what makes Jillies so distinctive.

For anyone discovering Jillies for the first time can you tell me about the brand and who you are?

So we are Jazz and Millie, two second year fashion design students at Arts University Plymouth. We started this business in September 2025 and worked towards our first ever pop up shop in December 2025. The ethos of the brand is that we wanted to create something that was sustainably focused. But being completely carbon neutral and sustainable in every single way is very difficult and very expensive. Therefore our area of focus is more specialised in textile waste, making clothes for longevity, adaptive design, size inclusion and just trying to steer away from what the fashion industry has become. It’s very easy to purchase a cheap piece of clothing online, wear it once and then discard it! At Jillies we use deadstock fabrics, donated and natural fibre fabrics. All of our pieces are one of a kind in the sense that we use scraps of fabric that are often given to us or are deadstock or fabrics that have been thrown away.

What made you decide to set up a slow fashion brand? And why in Plymouth?

We wanted to disrupt a system that we think is quite broken. Going into an industry that's as broken as ours, like textile waste and toxic dyes and the negative impact that the fashion industry has. I think it's one of the third biggest polluters globally, it's just insane! Clothing has moved away from being something that's fundamental, clothing has become something that you just have and isn’t considered anymore and so with slow fashion we want to come back to cherishing craft and being proud of what you wear, knowing that you’re wearing something that no one else is going to have because it didn’t cost you a fiver! Throw away attitudes are often driven by micro trends on social media. We want people to consider what they’re buying and be proud of it and with that in mind we want to remain in Plymouth, we have a studio here with machinery set up. Our production will remain here, but the general idea is to bring creativity to the South West. It's such an undervalued space for creatives, we shouldn’t have to move to the next biggest city! Plymouth is such a great place it has so much to offer. Creatives just need to have the courage to stay and make it work.

Your work is rooted in conscious design. Why is this important to you?

Everyone has this discomfort with themselves and being aware of that is half of the battle. Fashion design is so restrictive the way that fashion design is and has been for sometime and it actually doesn’t need to be. The more research we have carried out into conscious and adaptive design, size inclusivity the more we've both thought why isn’t there more of this available? It’s just about putting more thought into something and thinking about it. Jazz says ‘Conscious design to me really just means thinking about real people and real life and how you actually feel in the morning when you wake up, how do you want to feel all day. We’ve all become so caught up in trends and what’s on the runaways, but we're not actually thinking about how comfortable we are in ourselves sitting at a desk all day’. Millie also comments ‘ You can still look good, be comfortable but not be wearing jeans and hoodie’. Our designs are adaptive and you can change the pieces to fit how you feel comfortable with them.

You’re both fashion design students are Arts University Plymouth. How has your time there influenced your work?

Coming into it as two separate people who just want to be fashion designers is quite sobering in a way. The University has a real focus on sustainability. All of the modules we have completed since our first year have had some sort of sustainability element to them. You can’t study fashion at AUP and not understand the impact of the industry on the planet. This has really influenced us especially when we were thinking of starting a business. It made us question the impact fashion has on the world and made us want to really look into this.

What's next for Jillies?

We are launching a pop up shop at Yoke, Royal William Yard, Plymouth 12th-19th June. Instagram competition including a free haircut at Yoke and a Jillies giveaway! The pop up is timed with the release of our next capsule collection which includes pieces from our previous pop up that we have refined and new stuff that's more suited to spring summer including lighter weight items. We’re also launching our website, with a personal ordering system and made to order. Lots of exciting things are coming, with further pop ups during the year to be announced.

Jillies clearly have a compelling sustainability-focused story to share. Millie and Jazz are deeply passionate about their work and have an optimistic vision for the brand's future in Plymouth. By staying true to their values and embracing their place within the city’s growing creative scene, they’re building something meaningful. It will be exciting to see how their journey unfolds.

Be sure to stop by and get involved in their Pop Up at Yoke, 2 The New Cooperage, The Royal William Yard, PL1 3RP 12th-19th of June. Keep an eye out for their Instagram competition launching soon!

https://www.jilliesstudio.com/

@jilliesstudio

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