Hicks first started exploring sustainable fashion five years ago, sharing that for her, sustainability has never been just a buzzword. The wastefulness and thoughtless speed of fashion were initial motivators to develop a brand that embraces small capsule collections, slow release editions and seasonless fashion, and it is an authentic exploration of what fashion really means to consumers and how to return to the basic functionality of clothes and style, unbound by seasons and trends, that inspires Esse. 

Fusing functionality with a timeless aesthetic helped Hicks develop Esse’s first capsule collection, appropriately christened the “non-negotiables”. From here, the idea became that with every edition, you could build on the last, styling new garments with previous collections in a way that reinvigorates past purchases. 

The endurance of each Esse garment is paramount to the brand’s sustainability pledge, as is their commitment to sourcing high quality, low impact fabrics and manufacturing them locally. For example, Esse’s denim, sourced from Italy, is yarn-dyed naturally using the leaves of the Indigofera plant and their premium cotton, used in their quintessential range of cotton shirts, is also derived from quality suppliers in Italy. Denim and shirting styles are manufactured in Australia by factories with socially responsible and ethical practices, while specialised knitwear is made in a boutique factory in China.