Success Stories

Bobbine Berden

Bobbine Berden is a Dutch designer who would characterize her creations as a combination of humor, accessibility, colors and transparency. She first did a bachelor in Fashion and Design at HKU Hogeschool from which she graduated in 2016 and then, a master in Fashion Strategy at ArtEZ University of the Arts that she finished in 2020.

Through her work, Bobbine wishes to raise and explore important questions about the fast fashion industry; she particularly focuses on the value of a garment in a society where everything is so quickly replaced by something new. She thus develops various possible scenarios for the future that she translates into her creations and this allows her to engage in a dialogue with young people and their relationship to their wardrobe. “The conversations gave unexpected perspectives about their own clothing behavior. I hope to be able to expand these conversations further in the future and to inspire more participants.” She is currently working on a project called “Flaneren in Oma’s Kleren” (Strolling in Grandma’s clothes) in collaboration with journalist Evi Guldemeester where she tries to make a connection between older and younger generations and the story of their garments. “How important was clothing back then? And perhaps even more importantly, what can we do with these old wardrobes today?”

She participated in various FASHIONCLASH projects such as the Fashion House program (2017), God is a woman (2018), The Pink Church (2018) and Taskforce Fashion - Residency for Responsible fashion (2020/21). What she loves most about FASHIONCLASH is the fact that she can connect with other like-minded designers. “This is incredibly valuable to feel that you are part of a community where people share the same values and (visual) language.”

In the future, she wishes to continue to design and use fashion as a means of communication for her story and research. “I research new design strategies that show that clothing can be valuable and sustainable again for me. I hope that in the coming years I can convince fellow consumers of this too, and can show that garments are much more than just a trend-bounded item that quickly goes out of fashion.”