They say that if you’re in need of a blackout, blissful night’s sleep then book yourself an evening at a luxury hotel. With Hermit London, you can have a delightful sleep every night, wherever you are. Because one sleep in their pure pyjamas will make you a Hermit for life.

Hermit London is a brand that fashion’s sustainable pyjama sets out of unwanted, luxury hotel linens and bedding. Founded by London-based textile designer Ella Campion, Hermit London exists to support sleep-lovers to be sustainable beings, even as they doze off into their dreamlands.

“We strive for simple exchange. We take high quality bed linen, destined for landfill beyond all sense, and transform it into individual, characterful and comfortable pyjamas for a good night’s sleep with one less environmental worry on your mind. That’s all. No more, no less.”

Hermit London has been featured in the likes of The Culturalist UK, The ReDirectory and BamBamMadame; and all for a good reason. Not only have these bed linen-come-pyjamas been designed to make you feel like you’re sleeping on the tongue of a pearl, but they provide you with the true key to a good night's sleep. A clear conscience. 

By 2030, we are expected to be discarding a wasteful 134 million or more tonnes of textiles per year. Now, whereas we can’t rid the world of all its discarded fabric in the click of a finger, we can support Hermit London in working towards slightening the 10 million tonnes of bed linen that is thrown away every year in Europe alone.

The average life cycle of hotel bed sheets lasts around 9 months. Long before these high thread-count sheets have seen their time, they make their way to landfill. All the while,  fast fashion retailers of clothing and interiors across the world are using around 250 billion tonnes of water annually to produce fresh cotton. All the while, 100 million people in India - one of the leading producers of cotton - do not have access to drinking water.

In an effort to lessen the world of this gluttonous need to produce more cotton and consume more water than necessary, Hermit London has partnered with some of the finest 5 star hotels and members clubs to ensure that blissful bed linens in the prime of their life are, rather than being loaded to landfill, lusted after in a new way by being reworked into pure pyjamas. Proving all the while that ‘new’ textiles do not equal a successful, beautiful brand.

Ella started designing her first drop in the first lockdown, with a passion to create as little waste as possible in the discovery that one sheet could make one set of pyjamas. Excess fabric that isn’t used to frame the pyjama sets lives on and is used to adorn designs with pockets, create pyjama drawstring bags that each order arrives in, and small hair scrunchies for when you let your hair down at night.

All of this would not have been possible without a dream and the Make it British platform, a platform that supports businesses in finding local manufacturers. Ella used Make it British to find the small Somerset-based studio full of slumber-loving seamstresses who help her hand make each and every set. “We sent our first mood board over and initial drawings which then started the process of making up the first toile,” Ella noted.

Working with limited drops throughout the year means that Ella and her Somerset seamstresses can sustain an eco-friendly business not just in the clothing it creates, but in the model itself. Both small businesses working and supporting each other is vital to bring each design to life, making sure each pyjama set is beautifully hand crafted and one of  a kind. 

In her actions, Ella hopes to encourage other brands to be transparent when it comes to their supply chain, driven not by making a profit but by making a difference, as a strong response to the treatment of garment workers by fast fashion brands in our fashion industry today.  

Despite Hermit London’s belief in the circular economy that led Ella to release her designs in small drops, the first drop of pyjamas sold out in a flash after launching in July 2021, and now the second drop is finally available to buy at the click of a finger - but surely not for long. 

With each drop comes new designs. Hermit London’s latest collection includes the Juno pyjama set embellished with the signature hermit lilac piping and beautiful long collar, alongside the first of its kind - the Ariel nightdress that features Hermit’s signature scallop look. 

The designs sprung into action in December in South London Makers Market in Selfridges Oxford Street, with the exclusive Clio pyjama short set available on Selfridges online. For Hermit London, it was a big Christmas as the Clio, Juno and Ariel designs stood proud a booming pop-up with Stories Behind Things on the Kings road that ran until NYE, alongside some amazing other sustainable brands and they will be soon available to buy on their website. 

If you are fortunate enough to nab yourself Hermit pyjamas set, you’ll know that as a kind business, Hermit London asks all customers to wash their sets at 40 degrees or less, as washing at lower temperatures and using a delicate cycle when possible will reduce your carbon footprint, increase the lifecycle of fabrics further, and minimise the amount of microfibres released from clothing. 

Due to Ella’s strong love of the sea and seashells, a percentage of each sale is also donated to NO MORE PLASTICS, a non-profit working foundation generating awareness around the harm plastics and microplastics cause on the only one ocean that covers our planet, and support the development of solutions that will help end the need for plastic.

My favourite thing about Hermit London has to be that Ella has worked hard to produce sets that are day-to-night friendly. All Hermit London bedtime blouses, with their unique collars, are paired well with colourful sweaters or with your favourite pair of jeans. The Ariel nightdress has already been spotted in a dau-to-day outfit. Caped over a printed long sleeve top and big winter boots it is the perfect item for spring layering. So why not wear Hermit’s designs out about town, as well as to bed?

Hermit London’s fashionable pyjamas are leaving so many shoppers on cloud 9. But don’t keep your head in the clouds. Make sure you visit Hermit London online to get your hands on the Juno pyjama or Ariel nightdress, as designs are selling fast. 

Ella is always dreaming of future drops, and hopes to explore other products in 2022 with some exciting ideas around launching children’s pyjamas and even maybe venture into clothing. She intends to focus on growing Hermit this year, hoping to save as much bed linen as possible.