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Sabinna Rachimova

Interview Mollie Davies

Tamás Kiss

It comes as no surprise that Sabinna Rachimova was named one of Forbes 30 Under 30 just last year for her innovative and conscious work in the fashion industry. The honour was just one way that Sabinna's work has been credited over the years since she started out, having made her mark working for brands like leading Parisian fashion house, Christian Dior. Sabinna's eponymous label, SABINNA, celebrates her love of women with her love of our planet. Combining signature, distinctive prints and forward thinking, Sabinna creates pieces that never compromise on aesthetic while putting the environment at the forefront.

Perhaps most admirable for the way she upholds her relationships with the consumer and her team, Sabinna listens to what her customer wants through direct communication and ensures that her team is able to safely deliver it. The Austrian-Russian designer uses her art to act as a modern-day storyteller for women. Keeping her focus on women, Sabinna spreads the powerful message of sustainable fashion through her trademark seasonal prints, beautiful handcraft and strong colour palettes.

Constantly ensuring she keeps up with the right kinds of trends, Sabinna is at the forefront of dismissing fast fashion and pledges her art and time to ending unethical manufacturing processes and reconnecting consumers with the knowledge of where their fashion has come from. Although her team is spread across Europe, she’s even managed to adapt to creating the most desired statement pieces of 2020; face masks.

To find out more about how she continues to lead the way in sustainable fashion, juggle several new business initiatives and keep herself sane, I spoke candidly with the incomparable Sabinna Rachimova.

Mollie Davies: It must seem like forever for you, but when did you first realise you wanted to pursue a career as a designer? 

Sabinna Rachimova: Growing up, I was always into handcraft, knitting, crocheting and sewing, but I wasn’t aware that there is such a thing as a fashion industry. I don’t come from a creative background, no one in my family ever worked in the creative industry. I was born in the USSR but moved to Vienna when I was 6 years old. The school I went to was focused on languages, so my parents were preparing me for a future as an Interpreter. I was into Russian literature, which means that this would have been my focus. My high school didn’t really offer great art classes but, thanks to my grandmother and my own curiosity, I spent all of my free time learning about fashion history as well as garment making. By the age of 10, I knew how to pattern cut, sew, knit and crochet. By the time I was 14, I managed to land my first fashion internship - working for a fast fashion company in Vienna, sorting their archive. I guess around that time I decided for myself that I wanted to work in the fashion industry and start my own business one day.

Mollie: What parts of your background and childhood have really contributed to, or played into your passion for designing, lessons learned and the style you love?

Sabinna: Growing up between cultures, spending a lot of time with my grandmother, and being a bit of an outsider because of the constant moving in my toddler years helped me to identify a series of hobbies that gave me certainty. They were a way to express myself, and most importantly they made me feel less lonely. Once I got into handcraft, I got obsessed with it. Later on, this obsession grew into a real desire to be part of the fashion industry. 

Mollie: Clothes definitely play a huge part in how we feel about ourselves, and our confidence. What outfits have you worn to significant life events that stay with you to this day, and do you think this choice may have been responsible for a certain outcome?

Sabinna: I definitely remember my outfit for my first real job interview at the young age of 15. I was applying to work as a sales assistant in what I thought was a very cool shop, selling Diesel and Miss Sixty jeans. I was so nervous and really wanted to make sure to look cool, when in reality I was the total opposite. I ended up wearing a ripped, cropped pair of jeans, some green and yellow striped knee socks, converse that I covered in doodles and a t-shirt that I made myself. I looked ridiculous and have no idea why they gave me that job but I'm happy they did!

Of course, I remember my wedding dress. I am still deeply in love with it. It was a custom made SABINNA dress and I felt incredible wearing it. The weather was insane that day, it was 35 degrees, and was one of the hottest days of that summer. The dress survived the heat and so did I.

Mollie: So, clothing clearly means so much to you. How do you want people to feel when wearing your clothes?

Sabinna: I want them to feel themselves. Empowered, strong, soft, comfortable, special and everything else they want to feel in that moment. Clothes have to become part of your everyday life; they shouldn't dictate it. 

Mollie: How do you define the word ‘style’?

Sabinna: Being able to dress the way you like to dress. Style is something very individual. It is about aesthetic, a personal touch and the mix of your memories.

Mollie: What skills have you learnt that are necessary to be successful in the fashion design industry?

Sabinna: The more skills you have, the better! It's good to be versatile and flexible. But of course, there is a big difference between being a fashion designer and being a business owner. As a fashion designer my focus is on creativity, concept creation, storytelling. Whereas as a business owner, I need to show the ability to communicate all these aspects to my team first and then to the customers.

Marc Sethi

Mollie: We all look back and think what we would’ve done differently with hindsight. What was the biggest rookie mistake you made when starting out?

Sabinna: I started the brand with no business background, and I had no idea what I was doing to be honest. I’m not sure if I can pick one mistake, there were many mistakes I have made. But all of them were great learning lessons for me. Trial and error are still pretty much part of my everyday life. You need to try in order to find out if something works. Mistakes are part of the journey, and I am trying to embrace them.  

Mollie: Figures have been released that show fashion to be the hardest hit sector during this pandemic, with the worst ever decline in UK sales – with clothing down 35% - what do you think the industry needs to do, to pull it out the other side?

Sabinna: We need to focus on relevant products and rethink supply chains as well as the necessity of keeping huge stock. Working on demand and offering made to order products will be a possible solution. I also think that local manufacturing will be more relevant again. 

Mollie: How have you, as a brand, transitioned to work and still promote and sell during this pandemic, what have you done?

Sabinna: The pandemic and the situation that has occurred due to it, is definitely one of the biggest challenges we have faced as a business. The first challenge was to stay focused and keep going. Our first task was to move the offline experiences to our online spaces. We are now offering online workshops, and you can shop all the required materials on our website. This way we can help our business to survive as well as give our community a therapeutic task that is very much needed at the moment. People often underestimate the power of handcraft and how it is incredibly calming, it also teaches you a great skill. 

We launched Reconnect Sets that you can buy for your friends and family or simply treat yourself. We changed the content of our newsletter to make sure to provide our community with relevant updates and things they could do during lockdown. It was important for us to give people positive and uplifting content; therefore, our podcast was a great tool to stay connected and, of course, because of the requests and the demand, we started to sell face coverings that we make in our studio in Hackney Wick. The response from our community has been overwhelming and we are very touched by the support. 

Mollie: This is a really unique time, one in which consumers are paying a lot of attention to their habits and cracks being exposed - how do you think people can use this time to educate themselves on fast fashion and the need for sustainability?

Sabinna: There are many incredible resources out there, including books that you can read and social media accounts you can follow, I’d recommend Clare Press, Aja Barber, Safia Minney, Venetia La Manna, and Daria Daria to get more insights on how the fashion industry works and what conscious consumption means. In general, I would say it's always great to ask questions. Ask your favourite brands about their practices, write them an email, message them on Instagram. Fair fashion brands love to talk about the things they do in order to change this industry. If someone doesn’t want to talk about their supply chain, there is probably a reason for that. 

Mollie: What is next for Sabinna, in both terms of fashion collections, and a brand as a whole?

Sabinna: We just launched a series of free webinars called 'Growing Together with SABINNA' to share our experiences with the community and everyone who currently needs help to break into the industry. Each session will be 30 minutes long followed by a 15-minute Q&A. For more in depth support, you can book 1-2-1 sessions with me and/or our guest speakers. We are also collaborating on an absolutely game changing FashTech project - we will be sharing more information on this very soon. 

In general the agenda didn't change for us, as we want to keep improving our products, engaging with our customers on as many levels as possible, support local and European production, empower other women to start their businesses, thrive in their careers and share our knowledge about handcraft and the importance of consciousness consumption. 

Mollie: How do you manage everything you do, there is so much, and keep your wellbeing in check?

Sabinna: Work makes me happy and in retrospective it's incredible how much you can contribute to change as an independent business. I am in general quite good with time management and I am not a procrastinator, which helps a lot but, I am still figuring out how to say no and be more mindful about the fact that the day has only 24 hours. I wish I could work on even more projects and share my vision with even more people, but I constantly have to remind myself that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Plus, I am surrounded by the best people ever - this is not a one woman show, this is a real team effort where my family, my team and my friends show me so much support that I have no other choice but to keep going. 

Mollie: Your team is clearly so important to you. What lessons do you think you could teach other fashion employers about how they treat, pay and manage their staff? What rules do you live by?

Sabinna: First of all, we need to stop expecting people to work for free. The fashion industry is already way too exclusive, by expecting people to do free internships and free work, we make it even less accessible for people who are not able to get any other kind of financial support. We are simply excluding a lot of talent. This needs to change. As I mentioned before, a support system is key to success. You need help from other people, you need feedback from other people, and you need to exchange knowledge and experiences with other people in order to build a brand. How can you not value those who are believing in your vision and giving you their time, brain and heart?

Mollie: And we all want to know, if you could wear one thing forever, what would you choose?

Sabinna: A loose flower dress with long sleeves!

Mollie: Lastly, where do you hope to see the fashion industry in 10 years? 

Sabinna: The fashion industry is not good in embracing change, acknowledging mistakes and rethinking existing patterns. My hope is that in 10 years from now, we as an industry will be in a position where we can say that we did better and that we changed before it was too late.

Today, we are in a world full of so many social, economic and environmental injustices, but we are equipped with all the information we could need to educate ourselves. If there is one brand you choose to invest in, buy pieces that you will treasure forever from a brand like SABINNA. Sabinna openly admitted to me that the responsibility falls to everybody as part of the fashion industry to fix the broken system that they once created. We need to move forward by questioning supply chains, and the way that we question how consumers are invited into conversations. There are many opportunities for the industry to do better, but also for us, as consumers.

Stay in touch with updates on SABINNA through the brand’s social media channels, podcast and website.

Nian Canard

Nian Canard