Covid to catwalks: Fashion student 'turns heads' with Globus PPE dress

Using material from Golborne-based PPE manufacturer Globus and inspiration from her engineer dad, Lorna Gibson transformed the traditional, protective workwear into a sustainable, stylish statement.

Creating the ensemble for her final year project at the University of Salford, the dress' bold colours, unique style and innovative design "turned heads" at her University catwalk, and will now be showcased at a Graduate Fashion Show.

After her project's success, there are also plans for the dress to eventually be showcased at London Fashion Week. 

Lorna Gibson

Lorna, 20, said: “My ambition was to make typically ‘unstylish’ safety workwear more appealing. I was passionate about upcycling protective clothing from the sector to make it stylish.

“Although an intimidating task at first, the firm and thick nature of chemical suit material makes for a great base fabric when producing high volume. The Chemmaster in particular, offers a ‘firm but flexible’ exterior due to its PVC coating. Coincidentally this made it ideal for the quirky shaping that I needed to make this dress. It’s a bit of fun that also makes a serious and important point.”

Lorna's dress will be shown at a Graduate Fashion Show, with further plans for London Fashion Week

With Globus committed to reaching carbon net-zero by 2027, the manufacturing business has been impressed by Lorna's ability to recycle and reuse material from their Alpha Solway Chemmaster clothing range into a garment ready for the catwalk.

Lorna creating her design

Steven Binnie, Managing Director of Alpha Solway, part of Globus Group, commented: “Lorna’s talent partnered with our quality-made protective clothing has resulted in an exclusive for one of the world’s biggest fashion stages - something that, as a manufacturer, we could never have envisioned.

“Innovation and sustainability have always been part of the Globus DNA and Lorna’s Chemmaster dress certainly embodies that approach. With Lorna’s incredible eye for design, the opportunities are endless in terms of future prospects and we’re proud to be supporting her with her career endeavours.”