Fashion designer releases clothing range printed with 'wonky VEG' in a bid to encourage sustainable eating - and says she wants customers to be a 'walking talking point'

  • Sophie Dunster, 27, launched London-based fashion brand Gung Ho in 2016 
  • New food for thought line will provoke conversations around eating sustainably 
  • Hopes other brands will ditch fast fashion so Brits fall back in love with clothing

A fashion designer has released a range of clothing printed with wonky veg in the hope of encouraging sustainable eating. 

Sophie Dunster founded London-based label Gung Ho in 2016, using her designs to champion social and environmental causes. 

Her latest range, called Food for Thought, is made up of sweatshirts, dresses, and jumpsuits covered in colourful produce prints. 

She hopes the collection will provoke conversations around food waste and educate people about sustainability in a way that isn't 'shouty'.    

London-based fashion brand Gung Ho's latest collection features wonky veg prints (pictured) in the hopes that it will encourage Brits to think more carefully about food waste

London-based fashion brand Gung Ho's latest collection features wonky veg prints (pictured) in the hopes that it will encourage Brits to think more carefully about food waste

The Food for Thought range also features prints centring around eating seasonally and the greens vegans get their protein from (pictured)

The Food for Thought range also features prints centring around eating seasonally and the greens vegans get their protein from (pictured)

Sophie Dunster, who founded the label in 2016, hopes the collection will provoke conversations about eating sustainably in a way that isn't 'shouty'

Sophie Dunster, who founded the label in 2016, hopes the collection will provoke conversations about eating sustainably in a way that isn't 'shouty'

Talking to FEMAIL after the launch of the SS19 collection, Sophie, 27, said: 'Instead of being on somebody's wall where nobody sees it, it becomes a walking talking point. 

'If you wore something that represented who you were, and what you were about, the next time somebody complimented what you were wearing, instead of just saying "oh it's got pockets" you can actually talk about something that meant something to you.

'It's not shouting about it, it's not in your face, if nobody ever asks you about it that's fine. It's like a natural conversation starter, it's not shouty, it doesn't offend anyone, it's just an interesting way to spark a conversation.'

Gung Ho focus on a different cause every year, with previous collections centring around plastic pollution in the oceans, and British insects and pesticides.

Alongside starting conversations, the brand also donate 10 per cent of its profits to a charity related to their current cause. 

While Sophie herself isn't vegan, she only eats meat on special occasions, and hopes her clothing range will invite people to think about how sustainable their diets really are.

Last month scientists announced a 'planetary health diet' that involves cutting your meat consumption down to just 7g a day and eating three times as many vegetables, beans, nuts and soya in a bid to save the environment.

Previous studies have also shown meat uses 83 per cent of the world's farmland while providing only 18 per cent of calories. 

 'Instead of being on somebody's wall where nobody sees it, it becomes a walking talking point,' Sophie told FEMAIL. 'It's like a natural conversation starter'

 'Instead of being on somebody's wall where nobody sees it, it becomes a walking talking point,' Sophie told FEMAIL. 'It's like a natural conversation starter'

Alongside starting conversations, the brand also donate 10 per cent of its profits to a charity related to their current collection

Alongside starting conversations, the brand also donate 10 per cent of its profits to a charity related to their current collection

Sophie added: 'There are people who do what we do, but they do it in a much more obvious way that I hate.  So they do things like, for example, a vegan will just have the T-shirt that says "vegan" on it. 

'But nobody is going to go up to that person and say "oh, are you vegan?" and start a conversation about that. It doesn't provoke a conversation, it's just a statement.'

The T-shirts and sweatshirts are made from organic cotton at a Fairtrade certified factory in Bangladesh, before being embroidered in Oxford.

Gung Ho's blouses, dresses and jumpsuits are made from a mix of tencel, which is eucalyptus fibre, and silk.

The fabrics are created in China or India, then printed in Gloucestershire, before being put together at a small factory in Stratford, east London. 

The designs cost between £35 for a T-shirt and £325 for a jumpsuit.

Sophie hopes other brands will follow her in abandoning fast fashion designs that aren't built to last, and help Brits fall back in love with their clothing.

Gung Ho focus on a different cause every year, with previous collections centring around plastic pollution in the oceans, and British insects and pesticides. Pictured: Jodie Whittaker in a sea bird print dresses, which hopes to raise awareness about the amount of plastic these birds are accidentally consuming because of pollution

Gung Ho focus on a different cause every year, with previous collections centring around plastic pollution in the oceans, and British insects and pesticides. Pictured: Jodie Whittaker in a sea bird print dresses, which hopes to raise awareness about the amount of plastic these birds are accidentally consuming because of pollution

The brand also hopes others will join them in ditching fast fashion and falling back in love with clothes. Sophie added: 'I don't understand the philosophy of wearing something once and just throwing it away. If you throw it away, where do people think it goes? Somewhere there is a mountain of £5 dresses that is just sitting there destroying the environment'

The brand also hopes others will join them in ditching fast fashion and falling back in love with clothes. Sophie added: 'I don't understand the philosophy of wearing something once and just throwing it away. If you throw it away, where do people think it goes? Somewhere there is a mountain of £5 dresses that is just sitting there destroying the environment'