GREGORY FARMER

Sartorial

IN CONVERSATION: GREGORY FARMER

Liam Jefferies meets the man heading up two Made in England brands, GFC and HE Sports, combining deadstock and slow fashion with a penchant for subcultural icons www.gregoryfarmer.co.uk www.hesports.co.uk

Gregory Farmer is standing head and shoulders above the rest of the patrons at the pub just off Beak Street, in both stature and sartorial elan. Greg is wearing his own sports slacks, fly-front Mac and seafood green Oxford popover. He is also wearing a self-confessed ‘day-one-of-lockdown’ face mask made from his mother-in-law’s curtains.

Gregory runs two new labels bringing about mid-century stylings, Gregory Farmer Clothing and HE Sports. As such, he is a busy fellow, but he nonetheless found time for a pint or three with me, to discuss his various collections, our shared obsessions with frogmouth pockets and collar rolls, and the kismet of catching a particular episode of TOTP2. “The British manufacturing industry was so powerful and so great for so long, and I feel that it is almost out of reach now. But if lots of people like me do little things, creating small pockets of people making in England again using British cloth, slow fashion style, it can be really good again, and that’s what I’m after”

How did you come to be heading two brands at the same time? With the Gregory Farmer Clothing (GFC) label, the whole tone is proper ‘Sunday best’ and I didn’t want to slip into the ‘lounging around in pants’ scenario at home. I wanted to keep up appearances and I’d been thinking already of doing a more traditional button-down shirt, as opposed to the British Sixties take on it.

I made what was called at the time the ‘home edition’ shirt, but then people were getting a bit confused on the Gregory Farmer website, and I knew that I needed to separate these completely, so it was turned into two brands: GFC and HE Sports.

When you look at GFC, the collection could almost be seen as a love letter to that period of British style. The British manufacturing industry was so powerful and so great for so long, and I feel that it is almost out of reach now. But if lots of people like me do little things, creating small pockets of people making in England again using British cloth, slow fashion style, it can be really good again, and that’s what I’m after.

You were creative director at Brutus. How did you set yourself up after you left? I was working in the workroom of a Savile row tailor, one that did all the royal military stuff, and I spent many a late night down there, making my shirts. I always felt that, no matter what I did, I would surround myself with the best people. By all means have a go yourself to understand the workings of it, but if you get the best people around you, who know all the elements, then you’ll end up with the best product.

Something you can put your name on. Exactly. I grew up going to scooter rallies, northern soul events and gigs and I would look at the bar and see ten people wearing the same shirt as me. Anyone who really takes pride in what they wear doesn’t want to see that. So a big thing for me was numbered pieces, so people know they’re not going to see anyone else wearing what they are.

How did you first become involved with these subcultures that your work celebrates? I was waiting for the Simpsons on channel 2 and I caught A Town Called Malice by The Jam on TOTP2, and I thought, ‘these guys are cool’. It was a cultural experience, and as a kid of 16 I hadn’t seen anything like it before. I watched this three-minute clip and it absolutely blew me to pieces.

I’ve got Asbergers, so when I get into something, it is all or nothing. Everything else went out the window, I thought I was a mod, but I must’ve looked like an absolute wally. I think my headlight was 11 inches. When you started it up it really lit up the sky!

With H.E. Sports, the influences are undoubtedly mid-century. How does the golden age of menswear inspire your work? Someone mentioned that coming out of lockdown will be a new age of expression, the new roaring 20s, and I thought that that’s exactly what this is, to have this kind of release and be able to really have fun with H.E. Sports. It also allows me to keep the line very definite on GFC, where I can still make the most authentic piece I can, knowing that the vision isn’t being diluted.

What are your plans for H.E. Sports? For Autumn/Winter 21, H.E. Sports is all about outdoors, the ‘endless summer’. The name H.E. stands for Home Edition, so that we don’t forget it was born out of lockdown, but we’re taking it outdoors for AW21. I’ve got a great smock in the pipeline; I just bought 3,500 deadstock zips from a closed down factory in Whitney Bay near Newcastle. I’m zero plastic really, so deadstock was the only option. There’s no plastic packaging, everything is in wash bags. You’ve got to take that stuff into consideration these days. The next collection of pieces is directed towards the explorer. A nice mix of lightweight and heavy cloths, treated cottons for our smocks and rain trousers. n

PAB’S PIQUE

Pab’s Pique, the incarnation of a watershed image from the archives, is available from Farmer’s H.E. Sports line. Inspired by a 1956 photograph by Arnold Newman of Pablo Picasso in his Cannes Studio, the piece is a thoroughly authentic reproduction in a 100% cotton Terry towel cloth and sports all the signifiers of the original garment: open collar, left side welted chest pocket and a slanted pocket on the right hip. As with all of Farmer’s wares, the piece is numbered, made to order and individually cut and sewn in London. For the very brave, a pair of matching terracotta shorts is available to complete the louche artist-at-play ensemble.