Designed for Life - In conversation with Amanda Riley

Designed for Life

Amanda was somewhat destined to work in fashion from an early age. Influenced by her grandmother, who placed her in front of a sewing machine at age eight, she quickly learned how to use the machine and how to make her own clothes. Her grandmother's throwaway comment, having made her own dress only a short time after being introduced to the sewing machine, stuck, and Amanda's journey into the fashion industry was set.
A combination of sheer determination, ability, grit, and, it has to be stated, a degree of bravery saw Amanda experience the industry from almost every angle as she progressed quickly within it.
Following a number of years working abroad, Amanda returned to the UK. Parenthood brought with it a different perspective on aspects of the industry that had troubled her for a while. In 2009 she declined an offer to progress on her career pathway, and following a period of time where she painted and reflected on her next move, she set up The Fashion Factory (Fashionfactory.uk - offline), a business run from her home and working to empower young people how to use their hands and a sewing machine to upcycle old clothes into garments that they would be proud to wear.
The business was initially advertised through posters pinned to trees, but word of mouth soon took over, and Amanda soon found that her classes were full with long waiting lists of parents waiting to join this 'movement'.
COVID hit the business hard in 2020, and Amanda set about tackling a problem that had troubled her for a while. In her own words, "Trying to teach ten or more students how to use the sewing machine at the same time was like trying to teach ten pianists all playing different tunes". And so, armed with a home camera and editing software, she started to record and assemble a collection of videos that, when pieced together, allowed students to learn how to sew and create garments at their own pace. And so Fashion Rebellion was created https://www.fashionrebellion.co.uk
In this podcast, we follow Amanda's journey from school to where she is today and towards the end of the podcast, we have an offer for schools interested in exploring how Fashion Rebellion might work within their school.
I believe this is a journey you will not want to miss.
For enquiries about possibly introducing Fashion Rebellion in your school, please contact [e-mail]