Jessica António was born and grew up in Lagos and moved to study in Holland, it was during her school years that she developed a love for fashion and sustainability. Jessica then went on to study Design at University and following her degree she moved back to Portugal in 2019 and started J-ANT., which is a slow fashion label striving for the revival of craftsmanship in today’s fashion industry, with sustainability at the forefront of everything she creates.

J-ANT. has beautiful and unique handmade garments, through techniques such as smock, embroidery, crochet and silk printing, that are made-to-order. J-ANT. also focuses on innovative aesthetics so the garments are visually pleasing and unique, with Jessica’s focus being on good quality items over quantity.

Her latest collection uses natural dyes that are sustainable and the muted colours are versatile as there are many ways you could style the garments. Her latest collection has a clean and fresh look which she told me “was inspired by the rocks on Praia da Luz”, explaining that she goes there to paint and that the patterns of these textiles are organic and sentimental which are inspired by the beach.

The Crochet slip top and dress were my favourite pieces from her latest collection which Jessica kindly explained that because they are handmade “you do not get an exact replica each time and they are fully crochet by hand with zero waste and made of 100 percent biodegradable fibers. Jessica António shared that “I took my crochet garments to The Dutch Fashion Week and I crocheted these garments in front of people”, further explaining that “crochet cannot be done with a machine and can only be made by hand”. Jessica was asked at the Fashion Week what message she was trying to put out and she answered that she “wanted to show how long it actually takes to crochet by hand, hand making clothes is a job that takes a lot of time and people need to be aware of people included in the making of clothes”.

Her brand is all about encouraging society to appreciate handmade clothing and to be aware of the negative impact fast fashion has socially and environmentally.”

Additionally, Jessica told me her most popular piece is “the zero-waste jacket, which is special and allows people to feel like a new person”, she added that, she “has always been a jacket person and the fact that this piece is made from dead-stock textiles, recycled duvets and left-over fabric cut-outs adds a richness of detail to this exclusive winter jacket.” Jessica also told me she does one collection per year, adding pieces to the collection over time whereby she focuses on being non-wasteful and reusing left over fabrics to create new garments as they attempt to have a zero-waste policy. This practise really stood out to me and is shown through her smock bandeau top which is made from plant-based leftover fabrics and cut outs but this practise can be seen throughout her latest collection. Jessica António told me that her “greatest goal is to have all clothing be completely natural and bio degradable by 2030”, and that although her brand already has many sustainable practises, she would like to take it further.

Jessica is currently developing her brand to sell here and plans to produce more simple and affordable pieces and to have her brand in concept stores in the future.

Jessica António is an extremely talented designer and I believe J-ANT. has a very promising future, I urge you to see her collection for yourself. For enquiries, please email Jessica António at info@j-ant.com and for more information and to shop her latest collection please see www.j-ant.com. Similarly, to keep up to date with J-ANT. please follow @jantdesign on Instagram.

Author

Following undertaking her university degree in English with American Literature in the UK, Cristina da Costa Brookes moved back to Portugal to pursue a career in Journalism, where she has worked at The Portugal News for 3 years. Cristina’s passion lies with Arts & Culture as well as sharing all important community-related news.

Cristina da Costa Brookes