Much as they humbly reject the fashion supergroup tag, and to be fair it does sound a bit naff, the foursome behind new label, Offering, are packing some serious cultural heat. Distilling the talents of legendary stylist Simon Foxton, creative consultant and filmmaker Nick Griffiths, interior designer and antiques dealer Adam Bray, and Cav Empt co-founder Toby Feltwell, their debut collection is simple but low-key brilliant menswear that feels genuine in its lack of a grander purpose other than to be worn and enjoyed. As their combined experience surely dictates: if you insist on creating something new these days, it better be worth it.
As witnesses to era-defining scenes in which they each played a role, from the 1980s birth of UK subculture magazines and rise of trip-hop in the 90s all the way through to streetwear’s more recent upheaval of the global fashion establishment, you might think they’ve seen it all. But, as Mo’ Wax and Bape alumni Feltwell explains later, Offering avoids the tastefully inoffensive, play-it-safe direction people might expect from such a seasoned bunch. Shapes are on the looser, lounge-inspired side of practical; prints are all-over and heavy-handed (in the best way); and colours are traffic-stopping. Zero chance of anyone missing them when the first pieces land at Dover Street Market London today (February 25).
Here, in a conversation that unfolds for the most part at Bray’s shop in Camden surrounded by the iconic design rarities, folk textiles and strange artefacts he’s known for, the four discuss how fate and dinner parties brought them together, the refreshing honesty of setting out in fashion without trying to prove anything, and their remedies for avoiding becoming jaded with work.
Simon Foxton: Since having a label in the early 80s, called Bazooka, I swore I’d never do this again, but Nick and I had an idea while working together at our creative agency &SON, then you suggested speaking to Toby. Initially Nick and I approached Toby.
Nick Griffiths: Adam came aboard later – after hearing so much about him, and finally meeting at a friend’s birthday dinner, I knew we had to collaborate.
Toby Feltwell: I remember visiting Adam’s first shop on Ledbury Road in the 90s and it opened my eyes to a world of beautiful stuff.
Adam Bray: That’s right, we had that exhibition by director Mike Mills.
SF: We knew Toby from a Stone Island project we did in Japan years ago, and he’s good friends with Nick’s wife Heidi, but he was the missing link because he could make things happen.
AB: So we all went on a date together to the Serpentine.
SF: As I’m pretty much retired and spent most of my life working alone, doing a project together has been nice, getting to know each other and what we’re into.
TF: I take a lot of what I do for granted, so love working with people who aren’t as familiar with manufacturing. We’ve each built up careers in fields that inter-relate but don’t often overlap.
SF: We’re all men of a certain age, I first met Nick at i-D in the mid-90s, so we’ve been around the block.
TF: That a group of design veterans can come together and their collective output is not just a sleek definition of averagely good taste says it all. The shapes being practical, versatile and comfortable makes the whole thing a bit more provocative – proposing people wear these clothes in everyday life.
NG: There’s this freshness and sense of humour.
AB: And it’s been an ego-free experience. With projects like this it’s never a lack of creativity that’s the issue; it’s being able to get things done.
TF: The biggest part of making clothes is organisation rather than inspiration. And with me in Tokyo and everyone else in London, communication can be like a free jazz of iMessage, email and Zoom meetings; the protocols aren’t very well defined.
AB: But I don’t think any of us ever wanted to have a rented office space with mood boards on the walls.
TF: And we had no real reason to do this other than to do something new. To make something that wasn’t already out there.
AB: I feel like there’s a lot of expensive clothes out there that aren‘t terribly luxurious.
NG: Luxury seems obsessed with its own price point these days. Personally, I feel it’s lost its original connection to craftsmanship, knowledge, design, taste and wisdom.
SF: Even so, we’re not trying to solve a problem.
TF: Maybe it’s a luxury now just to be able to choose to dress as yourself. If we could facilitate that, I’d be pleased.
“Maybe it’s a luxury now just to be able to choose to dress as yourself. If we could facilitate that, I’d be pleased” – Toby Feltwell
NG: We didn’t want to show up with the same old references or purpose. We’re fortunate enough to work with real creative freedom – no brief, just conversations.
SF: Exactly, it’s organic, but I would say Nick has been instrumental in pushing us all, and Toby has physically made it happen. Adam and I are just front of house, although I guess you are a bit of a tastemaker.
AB: Finally! I mean, I’ve designed textiles, paint colours and carpets over the years but never anything worn on the body.
NG: It’s definitely all hands on deck, with Toby overseeing final designs and production.
TF: I had that initial conversation with Dickon Bowden at Dover Street Market about it and that was the first time that any of us had even talked to someone outside of our circle. It was our sign to finally get moving.
AB: Everything got held up because of Covid, of course, but then Toby called out of the blue to say the samples had turned up and suddenly it felt real.
SF: Up until then it had been a little bit theoretical.
AB: And we’re still just seeing where things take us. We’ve not sat down in the back room of a restaurant and plotted anything out.
NG: It feels very pure. It reminds me of the early days of magazines like i-D and The Face, where the focus was on the idea. Like the name, Offering, it’s a gesture – it’s honest.
TF: The collection is a statement.
NG: And I love how the products feel and wear. Next to a typical grey suit, sure, it’s bold. But in the context of other cultures or sportswear, not so much. And there’s a strong Japanese quality to the fabrics and craftsmanship, which we all believe in. Will Bankhead including made in Japan in the logo was smart, I love the logo.
TF: It’s important that it’s made in Japan, it gives the clothes a specific quality, a kind of solidity. The aspiration is not really elegance like with high quality European-made clothes, more a practical technical correctness. I’ve lived here for 20 years and wouldn’t know how to do what I do anywhere else. My entire experience of the fashion world is framed by what I’ve learned in Japan. Adam, I’ve been trying to convince you to visit for as long as I can remember!
AB: I think I know what you mean about the influence of a place. I can get incredibly jaded in London, like I never want to look at anything again, but then you see that one thing – like something interior designer Jermaine Gallacher has done, for example – and it transforms how you feel, reminds you there is hope!
SF: Working with AI does that for me.
TF: If I hit a slump I just go deeper into music, it’s always new if you know where and to look.
NG: It’s like a pursuit, a search for the right thing, the thing you know when you see it. A desire to create and express ideas.
TF: That’s why we were all excited by what this collective could come up with, even before we got down to specifics.
SF: Not that we see ourselves as a design supergroup or anything, we’d be more League of Gentlemen than Traveling Wilburys.
TF: How the four of us have worked together has had the opposite effect to the expected rounding off of corners.
NG: Exactly, there’s so much potential in this group to produce interesting work. Let’s see where it leads.
Offering launches today (February 25) exclusively at Dover Street Market in London and Ginza.
