Last Thursday we had the amazing Nigel Cabourn come down all the way from Newcastle to our shop in London to talk about his passions, inspirations, aspirations, obsessions and everything else. How Paul Smith worked for him, how he owns all the first edition books on the 1912 R. Scott’s expedition to the South Pole and how he’s doing a new shoe with Converse. If you missed it, it went more or less like this:
Simon Savage: So how did it all start? How did you actually go about getting things made in the beginning?
Nigel Cabourn: Well it wasn’t that hard, I just asked around who could make this, and who could make that… I have a training as a fashion student, but I couldn’t cut patterns because I wasn’t interested in that, just in the design and selling, so just by word of mouth I found a local manufacturer. She was actually a lady about 60 at that time; she would be around 110 if she was alive today. She took me under her arm and helped me to start manufacturing my own product. One of the first things I made properly in 1971 was a budgie jacket based on Adam Faith. He had quite a famous programme in the early 70′s called Budgie where he wore a little hit jacket. And of course, I was very inspired by the pop music in the late 60′s, so I made loom pants. So that’s how I started, with the loom pants and the budgie jacket.
Of course, being 17 in the 1967 was just fantastic. Anyone who was 17 in 1967 probably was so lucky, as anyone who was 17 in 1922 was very lucky. You know, being born in 1949, then being a kid in the late 60′s with all that Pop music, the way it really was with the flower power, you are so privileged. Although other people probably don’t realise it, but for me it was full of inspiration to do what I am doing today.
In 1972 I met Paul Smith with Harold Tillman at a tradeshow where I was showing. Harold was a quite famous guy at the time; he’s probably famous again today, as he owns Jaeger and Aquascutum. Harold was showing at the exhibition too and I was pitched in a little room next to him. So we got talking and he introduced me to Paul and then Paul came over to look at my few things that I was doing. He said, look I love what you’re doing, I’ve got a shop in London, which of course I didn’t know about in 1972. He asked me if I was selling to London, which I wasn’t, I was selling to the whole North East of England, so he suggested selling my stuff for me and so that’s how I have got into London shops.
In 1973 I was making a lot Harris tweed three-piece suits. Funny thing is that a lot of things I was 35 years ago I am making today. And I think that’s what’s stuck with, so when we started the Everest thing it was the easiest thing to keep regenerating and doing it differently. I was at this at this peak of interest in history and there wasn’t very much influence on me as fashion student, because it was all about ladieswear in those days and there was no real menswear in Newcastle. There were only two of us menswear students.
SS: One of the things that really stand out for me for someone who walks the floorboards is your use of colour.
NC: Well obviously, that is a real point of difference for us. I’m fabric driven first of all. Design is very important for me, but even more is the fabric. I have always had this big interest in fabric right from the beginning and it was a big inspiration for me. And in 1970′s when I started my business it was a whole different world. You could buy beautiful British fabrics. There was a fantastic mill in Manchester, I would go there and fill my car full of fabric – it was so easy. Lancashire was still thriving, it was starting to dive, but there still was a big industry there. That was a big advantage to be able to see all the local fabrics and the knowledge I have taught myself in the 70′s has actually stood me through all my life.
Fabric is the key, and because the fashion kids these days don’t know much about fabric, it gives me a big advantage. Also, if you are interested in fabric, you must be interested in colour and texture. And obviously, if you are interested in mountaineering, you have got to like orange, if you’re into nautical things, you have got to use a lot of yellow. I love naval things; so navy, royal blue, white, grey are the colours.
SS: Do you actually care about trends at all?
NC: No, no, definitely not. I’m not interested in trends at all; I don’t consider myself a fashion designer. I just like doing a bunch of old things, I like things that really work and I love making stories up.
SS: What else are you into besides your work?
NC: Well, actually, I am the real Forrest Gump, I’m a big table tennis player, I practice all the time. When I had the windmill, the table was in the middle of the room and I use to play nonstop. I also like biking, but that’s about it because work takes up all of my time. I start working early, because it’s better for colour, I love looking at things early in the morning when it’s light. I do not like working late; I’d rather go to work at 6 am in the summer and finish around 6 or 7 pm. You know, it is very difficult as designer working in the dark.
SS: Next year is the Antarctica expedition centenary. What are your plans regarding that?
NC: Well, it’s obviously fantastic for me, I have been waiting 5-6 years to do this. We have done a collection on Edmund Hillary and the 50th anniversary of climbing Mount Everest, so now it’s Robert Scott’s turn, we are going to base a whole limited edition on him and his team. There are going to be twelve limited edition pieces. I also have got Scott Polar Institute at Cambridge helping me with all the research. So I’m busy with that now; it is very time-consuming and a quite stressful project on top of everything else. But anyway it’s my hobby so I just go along with it.
SS: How much do you know about the footwear that these explorers wore? And also what are your plans regarding shoes? Are you going to have your own line?
NC: I was very privileged to be taken down to the archives in Scott’s Polar Institute and I have actually held Scott’s and Shackleton’s shoes in my hands. They were unbelievable. Actually, I am doing a collaboration on one of Scott’s shoes with Viberg, we are going to do a shoe based on what Scott wore in 1910. I had to teach myself about shoes, like about anything else really, because I didn’t learn much in college. It was all about ladieswear and once they tried to teach me about childrenswear, so I had to teach myself about the men’s.
Also I am doing collaboration with Redwing next year; it’s they first time they are doing collaboration with a designer, it’s going to be sold worldwide. What is more, I am doing collaboration with Converse, they asked me to do a special shoe, so I am doing a British P.E. shoe based on one from the early 40′s.
SS: So who made Scott’s and Shackleton’s shoes?
NC: Actually, none of the shoes have any brand names. All of Scott’s smocks are made by Burberry.
SS: That’s what we do all day when I go up to buying… Talk about this.
NC: I have about 4000 vintage pieces, which I have been collecting since 1978, and that’s been a backbone of everything I do now. Where people buy library boks, I buy old garments. And I also buy first edition books – I have all the Mallory books, I have all the books from Antarctica from 1903.
Member of the audience: Did Mallory actually get to the Everest first?
NC: I think so!
M: Any evidence?
NC: No, not yet, but there might be soon. I’ve actually had Mallory’s clothes all in my hands, what’s left of them. I’ve seen his neckerchief – navy blue neckerchief, which he used to tie around his head, still caked in blood from 1924.
M: Can you tell a bit about spring/summer collection?
NC: S/S12 is huge and colourful, a lot of linnen, a lot of camo. We’ve got some fantastic camo, which is based on the British camo that they wore in the early 40′s. I had to get that camo fabric made especially in Italy, it was a big expense; it’s about £22 a metre.
M: Your things have a very distinctive hands-on quality which is what’s so charming about them. I am wondering about from the execution from the idea to the manufacturing.. Have you got one workshop where you do everything?
NC: Basically, if you are manufacturing today, you can’t successfully manufacture all the products in one factory. What you have to is you have to go to specialists. So I’ve got a specialist outerwear manufacturer, I’ve got mackintosh manufacturer who’s Nelson in Lancashire, I have got a factory which is making the jackets in London, I have a factory manufacturing sheepskins in Scotland… Nigel Cabourn Authentic is all made in UK, that’s the whole purpose of the brand. And I’ve got to tell you, not many people manufacture in England these days.
I travel a lot; it’s normal for me to 500-600miles in a day. We would do 3 or 4 factories, set out at 5am in the morning and return late at night. It’s the way we work, we go to all the factories, we have everything specially made and we are very hands on.
M: What do you do in your Japan collections?
NC: Japan collection is all designed in Newcastle. I go to Japan 5 times yearly. As well as designing, I go to source all the local fabrics in Japan and visit quite a few of the mills around the Tokyo, and go to factories to see things being made. So I spend about 10 weeks a year in Japan, but it’s no problem for me, I love Japan.
We export the Authentic collection to Japan too, because I have two standalone stores there in Tokyo and Osaka.
M: Have you ever thought about opening a shop in UK?
NC: Well, at the moment we are opening a store in New York and we are talking about opening a shop in London, but we still don’t know.
M: Why New York?
NC: Just because we have got a big following there. We have just got about 12 accounts in America, but they love our product. And, to be honest, there aren’t that much great stores in New York, so we think it would be a great place for us.
So this was a great night at Studio 8, the first of the series of talks we are going to have with various designers and interesting people. Keep one eye out, we are going to do another one soon.
