Victorinox: When is a coat not a coat?

I grew up in Kent: it was four miles to the nearest shop and we really had to make our own fun. I have two older brothers – and a very patient mother. When we were kids, my father worked long hours, but we were always told that if we could design things during the week, with technical drawings, he'd help us make the design at the weekend. We ended up constructing everything from treehouses to robots; this is really where my fascination with making things started.

These days I have my own fashion collection and I suppose I've become known as a designer who is interested in sustainability – in 2009, I won an award from the Ethical Fashion Forum, and awards from GQ and the British Fashion Council for my work with sustainable design. One of my ventures since then has been my Remade in England collections, which recycle worn garments to create new pieces.

As well as my own label, I am also artistic director of Victorinox's clothing line. Victorinox is probably best known for its Swiss Army knives, but it does great clothes, luggage, watches and even fragrance. Last season, we launched a new idea for its apparel division that combines the type of multifunctionality you find in a Swiss Army knife with a sustainable philosophy.

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It's called the Modular Liner System and it came from a brainstorming session in our New York office. We were discussing the reality of how we wear clothes today, how we want things that are adaptable and trans-seasonal. Rather than buying one big coat, which can be a bit of a nightmare when you get to the airport or go on the Underground, it's easier to have a piece that can be customised. With the lining system, you can see what the weather is doing and adapt your coat accordingly.

The way it works is our jackets and coats take snap-in liners made from matte recycled polyester. These come in different styles and colours – some are in Swiss-military quilting with 100g thermo-eco insulation. This means you can wear the same jacket or coat season after season and keep it fresh by adding new liners to it, as we will create these for new collections. Also, the jackets and coats we produce in future will also fit the current liners. You can wear the liners on their own, too.

We have parkas, a raincoat, a tailored sports jacket and field jackets in the autumn/winter 16 collection and three different styles of liner. This allows you to custom-create your own piece in the first place, wear it with or without the liner, depending on the weather – or wear just the liner – and keep a favourite style updated in the future so you're not always buying new clothes. It's a very modern way of dressing. And the idea is that we don't change the system, so it will continue for years to come.

CHRISTOPHER RAEBURN is a British fashion designer who is known for his ethical approach, focusing on sustainable production and reuse of materials. He is the artistic director of Victorinox's fashion division, in addition to running his eponymous clothing brand; christopherraeburn.co.uk; victorinox.com