Deadstock, reconstructed garments and artisanal production gave ModaLisboa Priority a tangible sustainability story. Turning those practices into durable businesses remains the harder task.
Diogo Mestre gave himself a year between runway presentations. The decision allowed the designer behind Mestre Studio to reconsider ideas, remove weaker pieces and develop a collection without the pressure of another show after six months. Speaking to MAGG following his presentation at Lisbon Fashion Week, Mestre described the value of having time to think.
The resulting collection, Sonhos de Menino, drew on memories of his late grandmother. Dark, enveloping silhouettes recalled her clothing, while brighter colours and generous proportions evoked childhood. Its personal narrative was supported by a practical decision about how to work: the collection determined the pace.
That approach captured one of the more consequential ideas at ModaLisboa Priority. Held from 7 to 11 October, the 67th edition of Lisboa Fashion Week presented spring/summer 2027 collections alongside projects exploring craft, material experimentation and cultural identity. Across the programme, designers made a case for preserving the resources and skills already available to them.
The evidence took different forms: antique textiles incorporated into new clothes, surplus fabrics given another use, garments reconstructed and specialist techniques developed through collaboration. These practices offered a more precise account of responsible fashion than the broad language of sustainability alone.
At Béhen, Joana Duarte treated heritage as both inspiration and raw material. Desta Água Não Beberei drew on Nazaré’s history as a fishing community and seaside destination, bringing workwear and leisure references into contact with shirting and tailoring. Cotton and wool appeared alongside antique and reused textiles.
The collection’s strength lay in translating those references into contemporary dressing. Duarte embedded heritage in the materials and construction of the clothes, giving existing textiles a new function while retaining the associations that made them worth preserving.
At the MUDE, Constança Entrudo and French artist Marie Hazard examined the value of textile production through their collaborative project, AD HOC. Entrudo’s signature “(un)woven” technique uses heat to fuse recycled yarns; Hazard’s practice includes handweaving. Their work connects ateliers in Lisbon and Paris with longstanding manufacturing partners in northern Portugal for denim, knitwear and footwear.
The collaboration placed the time and knowledge required to make cloth at the centre of the presentation. It also demonstrated how an independent practice can draw on both individual craftsmanship and established manufacturing relationships.
Reuse took a more abrasive form elsewhere. Observador’s closing-weekend report described Valentim Quaresma working with deadstock for Distopia, using creased surfaces, fabric fragments and gathered seams to explore identity and conformity. Kolovrat assembled textiles from brocade remnants and developed intricate cord constructions. Dino Alves also returned to upcycling in the closing show. In each case, existing materials helped determine the design.
For Arndes and Bárbara Atanásio, that process is an established part of their work. Ana Rita de Sousa’s Arndes uses deadstock and reconstructs existing garments, while Atanásio combines upcycling with deconstruction and humour. Both warrant attention for the continuity of their approach, although assessing an individual collection’s environmental performance requires more detailed information about its materials and production.
DuarteHajime provides a useful example of how a label can explain those choices. Ana Duarte’s published production policy describes the use of factory deadstock, the transfer of unused fabrics into subsequent collections and the conversion of cutting remnants into accessories. It also identifies local manufacturing and selected recycled or certified materials.
Such disclosures give customers something concrete to evaluate. They make responsibility part of the business conversation, extending beyond the narrative attached to a seasonal collection.
The programme also showed how access to specialist knowledge can shape an emerging designer’s work. Ariana Orrico’s Workstation presentation followed a creative residency at Burel Factory, awarded through Sangue Novo. For Mui Snob e Sempre Desleal, she combined the factory’s wool fabrics with cotton jersey, taking the intimacy of pyjamas, robes and loungewear into the city.
The collaboration connected a young label with an established textile producer. Access to materials, technical expertise and production facilities can help a designer move an idea beyond the sketchbook and develop a more distinctive product.
Francisca Nabinho made the labour behind her collection visible through detail. Point sur Point drew on Georges Seurat, combining optical effects with flowers made and applied individually by hand. Speaking to MAGG, she reflected on the imbalance between months of preparation and the brief attention afforded to a runway appearance.
Her observation exposed a tension running through the week. Clothes that reward close examination must compete within a format built around rapid succession. For designers whose value rests partly on intricate construction, communicating that work is a commercial challenge as much as an editorial one.
Roselyn Silva approached cultural continuity through The Birds Collection, drawing on São Tomé and Príncipe and translating paintings by Blackson Afonso into textiles. The collection added another perspective on the relationship between place, identity and design. Its biodiversity references were a creative narrative, however, rather than evidence of a conservation outcome.
That distinction is essential to a credible assessment of the programme. Craft, cultural preservation and environmental performance can intersect, but they are not interchangeable. Company-level credentials address another set of questions. Adolfo Domínguez, which made its Portuguese runway debut this season, has held B Corp certification since February 2025. That assessment adds context to the business without establishing the environmental performance of every garment it sells.
Among the emerging designers, several proposals made their material choices explicit. ELIO, the project of Élio Ramos, developed Loser using deadstock fabrics, Portuguese suppliers and local production. Its exploration of masculinity and vulnerability was accompanied by a clear account of sourcing and manufacturing.
ELIO was selected as one of five Sangue Novo finalists, alongside Francisco Martinho, Granatum, Marta Amorim and Ronni. Yet the competition’s relevance to this conversation extended beyond the finalists.
Alexandra Sousa developed Extended through the reuse, deconstruction and transformation of existing materials. Matheus Dauzaker’s Metamorfose reconstructed garments and incorporated unconventional elements, including bicycle inner tubes. Their work demonstrated how material constraints can become productive starting points for design.
Catarina Pica, founder of artisanal knitwear label PICA BIOTA, examined the subject through textile research. Diáfanacombined DIY biomaterials with industrially processed materials and computerised techniques, grounded in slow artisanal production by the designer. The collection considered how materials age, persist and change, making their differing lifespans part of its design language.
Other participants approached related questions through cultural research and conceptual work. Granatum’s Marta Estrela explored fishing heritage and craft in Espinho 00. Francisco Martinho questioned accelerated working rhythms in Tempo: Orgânico | Mecânico. Marta Amorim’s modular X1: Experiência 1 considered plant-growing structures as a response to mass production.
These proposals identify designers worth following. Their next stages will reveal how the ideas develop into products, how those products are made and whether their intended benefits can be demonstrated.
Beyond the runway, ModaLisboa’s pop-up with House of Curated introduced a more immediate commercial dimension. Held at Moldo Studios from 1 to 11 October, it brought together 16 labels and gave visitors an opportunity to buy into the design culture presented during the week.
The selection included Lachoix, which describes limited production through small Portuguese shoemaking ateliers; Beatriz Jardinha, whose jewellery is handmade in Portugal and available to order; and SOUS, founded by Mariana Sousa, which connects contemporary clothing with Madeiran textile traditions. Each offers a different example of how specialist skills and considered production can shape a brand.
Gandaia’s founders have also described Portuguese manufacturing and the reuse of fabric leftovers in new products. Fellow participant Ricardo Andrez brought a documented history of deadstock experimentation: according to its official notes, his autumn/winter 2024–25 collection used 90 per cent deadstock materials. The figure applies to that earlier collection, but establishes a relevant precedent in his work.
ModaLisboa’s programme also addressed the business conditions needed to sustain independent design. Workshops focused on brand strategy, pricing, distribution and market access, while Sangue Novo combined textile partnerships with training awards, a funded Burel Factory residency and press-office and showroom support from Showpress. These initiatives recognised that giving designers more time also means giving them the resources and commercial knowledge to keep working.
Together, the retail and professional programmes brought the week’s central question into sharper focus. Designers can make resourceful, distinctive clothes, but sustaining those practices requires customers, viable pricing and reliable routes to market.
For labour-intensive collections, prices must support the people making them. For labels working with surplus materials, sourcing and production need to accommodate what is available. For emerging designers, access to expertise must be matched by the time and financial capacity to use it.
ModaLisboa Priority showed where those foundations already exist: in textile partnerships, reconstruction practices, artisanal knowledge and designers willing to reconsider the pace of their work. Its strongest case for slower fashion rested on these concrete decisions. Their lasting value will depend on whether the businesses behind them can endure.
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