Jordan Hunnell is a fashion professional with over a decade of experience in garment construction, textile techniques, and sustainable fashion.
He has developed recycled programs for top luxury brands and collaborates with local manufacturers to create unique, ethically made pieces showcased on international runways.
His work focuses on "lower and slower" fashion, encouraging brands to adopt sustainable, small-batch, and artisanal production methods.
Based in Los Angeles, Jordan is dedicated to supporting the city’s diverse manufacturing industry, shaped by immigrant talent and generational craftsmanship.
THE INTERVIEW:
Which textile tradition or technique from your heritage do you feel holds untapped potential for shaping a regenerative future? How could it inspire or transform contemporary practices?
Being from Los Angeles, I try to work with artisans that have immigrated here bringing with them traditional techniques which have evolved over the history of the city’s apparel manufacturing industry. Dye houses in LA are some of the best in the world and given the right opportunity these artisans can already offer highly regenerative ways of working - brands need to engage in a way that provides the budget and timeline that allows them to do so.
As you engage with textiles during this residency, what personal or ancestral threads are you reconnecting with? How do they influence your current creative direction?
During the residency, I was reconnected with natural fibers, especially wool, and it has influenced me to think more deeply about everything the Earth provides for us. In other aspects of my life I’ve always been tuned into our home planet rhythms, there is no reason for my work to be an exception to that.
Learning more about the durability of natural fibers has pushed me to explore creative opportunities with upcycled and recycled fibers - and start implementing those practices in my own work and with clients.
How has working alongside artists and thinkers from other disciplines influenced the way you approach material, form, and narrative in your textile work?
Learning from the other artists and creatives has pushed me to think outside of industry norms and about how we architect new ways of working with textile waste. While some of my work is garment based, I’m now also interested in pursuing new ways of making textiles and learning more about non-traditional approaches to production.
Are there textile-related habits, production systems, or aesthetics that you believe no longer serve us? What new patterns—conceptual or literal—are you weaving in their place?
Most peoples' closet is made up of over 70% synthetic textiles, many of which will never biodegrade and return to the Earth. We need to look to natural fibers and recycled materials to replace these materials in the supply chain, while also fostering a culture of repairing and reusing the items we already have.
If you could imagine a textile ecosystem based on circularity, care, and community, what would it look like? What role would your practice play in sustaining it?
To me, a textile ecosystem based on circularity, care, and community would require a regional approach to textile production within a systemic degrowth of the fashion industry.
People like me, who work in the production of clothing, need to do more to connect brands with local artisans and introduce traditional methods that have a lower impact on our planet.
If consumers take pride in their purchases, understanding them as a product of their local community, they’re more likely to take care of it and repair it.
JORDAN HUNNELL
Connect via IG: Jordan Hunnell IG
Pictures by Emma Collins @ectextiles
