Rolling In Roses

Ethical British-made bridalwear for the offbeat, fiercely independent bride

Who are we...

Hayley Claire Neil is the founder and designer behind Rolling In Roses. Never happier than when designing or making, Hayley sources the fabrics, sketches the designs, drafts all the patterns, and makes the sample gowns herself in the RIR atelier. Lying awake at night deciding how to finish the perfect cuff or solving a tricky pattern drafting problem is par for the course, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. Hayley can’t believe how lucky she is to be able to make a living doing what she loves and making people happy; it’s a dream come true.

The Brand

The typical Rolling In Roses bride? There isn’t one. We dress brides from all walks of life and of all shapes and sizes.  We are a small-scale British label with a focus on thoughtful design and high-end craftsmanship, creating conscious bridalwear for individuals who walk to the beat of their own drum. Our fabrics are gentle to the earth, our dressmaking techniques traditional and refined, our designs a blend of the classic and the avant-garde. We are not fast fashion.

The name ‘Rolling In Roses’ is taken from an early Patti Smith poem. Known as ‘the godmother of punk’, she embodies our ethos of designing for the offbeat, sophisticated, fiercely independent bride. The dreamers, the poets, the music-makers, the lovers.

Dresses

Rolling In Roses pieces are distinguished by their standard of workmanship and luxurious eco-friendly fabrics. We’re so proud to maintain traditional couture techniques in a world where cheap and dirty is sometimes valued over quality and worth.

All our gowns are individually made to order by a tiny team of seamstresses in York, England. This small-scale production means we can always guarantee the exceptional finish of our dresses and achieve artisan quality workmanship with all its divine hand-finished details. No production lines or faceless factories here; each dress is made from start to finish by one expert artisan who knows your name and your wedding date, and who personally takes care of every last detail. And oh, the pride we feel when we see your wedding pictures. Pure joy.

Our brides always comment on how comfortable their gowns are; each unstructured piece is cut to effortlessly flatter the natural figure rather than to fight against it. You won’t find any restrictive boning or scratchy, stiff fabrics here, just comfort, elegance, and freedom. Our processes include delicate hand-finished couture details such as tiny rolled hems, hand-stitched edgings and beautiful blanket-stitched hook and loop closures, and all pieces are lined with a natural, breathable silk/bamboo blend or a vegan alternative to silk made from orange-fibre. We keep practicality in mind alongside aesthetics, and every dress has a wrist loop for carrying its train gracefully, along with ribbon tabs to tie it up out of the way for dancing. Dancing is very important.

We are proud to have no size restrictions on our dresses, so each design is available in any size required. Alternatively, we can offer bespoke versions of any design made to your personal measurements, so if you have any special requirements or problems with fit please don’t hesitate to get in touch. The full collections are available to try in multiple sizes exclusively at our flagship boutique in York, and selected dresses are available in other boutiques.

Our Ethos

Minimal impact, maximum love. Creating quality products and positive spaces, and generally trying to help make the world a better place. We use sustainable, ethically produced, organic and eco-friendly fabrics, and offer vegan alternatives to silk. For us sustainability is a lifestyle, not a gimmick; we are conscious of everything we do, from using paper tape instead of sticky tape on our dress patterns, right down to the recycled paper in our ladies’ room. And we recycle everything. (EVERYTHING. Even ballpoint pens, crisp packets, and the Tetra Paks from the oat milk we put in our tea. It’s a bit of an obsession here.) Everyone who works here is an eco-warrior, and we are so proud of the tiny amount of rubbish we send to landfill. All our fabric offcuts are donated to crafters, makers, and artists so nothing is wasted, and we package our dresses in biodegradable bags, recycled acid-free tissue paper, and unbleached cardboard boxes. We strive to run our business as ethically as possible in every way. Pay it forward, spread the love.

Inclusivity

A word from our founder and designer Hayley –

“The aim of Rolling In Roses was never to be exclusive, never to cater only to a specific ‘type’ of bride. All personalities, all hair types, all skin colours, all body sizes. I don’t know what else to say except I hope we have always been a welcoming and safe space to anyone who chooses to visit us. From same sex weddings to trans-gender customers to selling dresses to middle-aged drag queens and making gowns in a range of all-inclusive dress sizes and creating dream dresses for people with all shades of skin and with myriad different accents, I’ve loved every last moment meeting our lovely and varied clients. And I’d just like to make sure everyone knows that all of us here at RIR promise not to discriminate on any level, ever. All is love xxx”

Ethical Practices

It’s fair to say that Rolling In Roses was founded for love, not money. The aim of the game is to produce the highest quality designs, do our utmost to make our brides happy, relaxed, and comfortable, and create the happiest work environment possible. And we’re pleased to say we’re all pretty goddamn thrilled with our work situations and actually look forward to coming to work every day. We enable and encourage our small staff to take advantage of flexitime and working-from-home options, which means happier workers and a lower carbon footprint as a result of reduced travel. Our business banking is with the Cooperative Bank, who we chose for their ethics – they promote human rights and equality and are passionate about protecting the environment and social development. We’re constantly looking at ways to improve our impact on the world and the environment around us.

Eco-friendly Fabrics

We are passionate about fabrics. We spend an insane amount of time sourcing luxury materials which are not only divine to look at and wear, but also ethically produced from eco-friendly fibres. Our commitment to lowering our impact on the environment borders on obsession; we consider every detail throughout our production methods, from the organic cotton thread we use for construction, right down to our elastic inserts made from natural biodegradable rubber and our organic cotton size tags. So please allow us to shout loud and proud about some of our incredible new fabrics, and what makes them so desirable…

Organic  all organically certified fabrics not only guarantee a chemical-free production which protects the earth and surrounding habitats, but also a high level of water conservation and ethical production which protects workers. Factories are inspected regularly to make sure they meet the high standards required. No slave labour, and happy insects abound.

Closed-loop – natural cellulose fibre viscose is produced using a circular system which cleans, recycles, and reuses all the chemicals and water used during the processing of the fabric. It is such a joy for us to be combining our traditional and ancient dressmaking techniques with such modern innovative technology as this.

Recycled – we were so excited to find some incredible recycled fabrics for the Chemistry collection. One fibre is produced using the cotton linters which are the by-products of the cotton industry which would otherwise end up in landfill, and another has fibres spun from reclaimed plastic waste taken from the oceans; so not only are these luxury fibres a dream to wear, but they are also cleaning the earth rather than polluting it. An absolute delight.

Low-impact – the viscose fabrics we use are produced using natural wood-pulp from bamboo and eucalyptus forests, which are grown quickly and freely without the use of pesticides and fertilisers. These forests are also protected to ensure no over-harvesting is endangering habitats or eco-systems.

British made – many mainstream fashion fibres are produced in one country, then spun in another, woven into fabric in another, and sewn into garments in yet another, meaning the carbon footprint of the finished pieces are incredibly high. Which means that, comparatively, our British-produced lace and silk has the lowest possible carbon footprint. Happy days.

The nature of made-to-order bridalwear is inherently sustainable as it’s not mass-produced and therefore there is no over-production. But obviously we want to encourage our brides to make the environmental impact even smaller by altering, dying, restyling and wearing again their wedding outfits. Our bridal separates are great for this; styling blouses with vintage jeans and killer heels or shortening a skirt and wearing it with your favourite boots. Most of our fabrics can easily be dyed and we are happy to advise on this; we would LOVE to see more pictures of our brides re-wearing their nuptial outfits! Cyclical fashion is the way forwards, friends. Let’s start a bridalwear revolution.

“I knew I wanted a Made in England dress – this was really important to me, and I also knew that I wanted something a little bit different, easy to wear, ethically made and eco friendly which is where Rolling In Roses ticked so many boxes. Communication between myself, Ellis and Hayley was seamless, the service was five star; I really couldn’t have asked for a better experience or dress to get married in! I received so many compliments about my dress – it was the perfect choice for me. My now husband even said, “you couldn’t have chosen a better dress, it’s perfect”. I just want to do it all again so I can wear another one of their GORGEOUS dresses.” – Edina

“Honestly Hayley is the girl to make your dress!!! Felt special from the moment I walked into your beautiful shop! Your talent is endless and my beautiful dress, veil and flower crown were perfect for our day. I felt incredible in my dress and never wanted to take it off! If you’re worried about the dress shopping experience go here!… thank you so much Hayley, the confidence you gave me in my dress is priceless! Forever a star in my eyes, Matt loved it too.” – Amanda

“I found this amazing bridal shop online and flew over from Spain to view their gowns and I was not let down. The girls Hayley & Ellis were amazing, I turned up with an entourage of girls in tow and they didn’t blink an eyelid. They got everyone drinks whilst helping me find the perfect dress. Hayley sketched out my dress idea, but after a few more visits & speaking about my wedding plans, I went back to the very first one I tried on. They created the perfect beach dress for me. You will not be let down when visiting this beautiful shop.” – Marisa

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Worldwide

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