Great photographs don’t just show our clothes, they tell our story and connect you with what we do.
Our philosophy around photography is really simple: just keep it honest. Shoot the clothes as they are, don’t alter or pin them, don’t retouch. When our clothes arrive and you put them on we want them to look like the clothes you see in the pictures.
We’ve always kept our photography low budget, shooting in local locations (going to Southend seemed exotic), and working with great photographers who genuinely like what we stand for and keep their rates low. We also work with street-cast or newer models to minimise fees. Keeping our marketing spend at a minimum is an important part of how we do business. I suspect we’ve spent less on ten years of shoots than some brands would spend on one.
But we’ve still shot some amazing pictures. I’ve loved going back through our archive, reliving the memories of some of the best days on the job. I’ve included a few notes on each shoot for context, and I hope you’ll enjoy some of the backstories.
Great photographs don’t just show our clothes, they tell our story and connect you with what we do.
Our philosophy around photography is really simple: just keep it honest. Shoot the clothes as they are, don’t alter or pin them, don’t retouch. When our clothes arrive and you put them on we want them to look like the clothes you see in the pictures.
We’ve always kept our photography low budget, shooting in local locations (going to Southend seemed exotic), and working with great photographers who genuinely like what we stand for and keep their rates low. We also work with street-cast or newer models to minimise fees. Keeping our marketing spend at a minimum is an important part of how we do business. I suspect we’ve spent less on ten years of shoots than some brands would spend on one.
But we’ve still shot some amazing pictures. I’ve loved going back through our archive, reliving the memories of some of the best days on the job. I’ve included a few notes on each shoot for context, and I hope you’ll enjoy some of the backstories.
When we launched in 2016, it was with a shop on eBay who were fantastic supporters during our first few years. They very generously paid for our first editorial shoot, which we shot in London with photographer Timo Wirsching on the Walthamstow Marshes, on the Thames near Waterloo Bridge, and at the Southbank Centre. I am still very fond of these first pictures which we used for years, and they appeared on the pages of various newspapers and magazines. I particularly like that every piece they’re wearing is still part of our collection ten years later.
When we launched in 2016, it was with a shop on eBay who were fantastic supporters during our first few years. They very generously paid for our first editorial shoot, which we shot in London with photographer Timo Wirsching on the Walthamstow Marshes, on the Thames near Waterloo Bridge, and at the Southbank Centre. I am still very fond of these first pictures which we used for years, and they appeared on the pages of various newspapers and magazines. I particularly like that every piece they’re wearing is still part of our collection ten years later.
We did a few collaborations in the early years, with Liberty, two with Selfridges, and one with Topshop. The campaign images for the Topshop launch were taken by Thomas Cooksey at the famous F. Cooke’s, which was a pie & mash shop on Broadway Market in East London. The incredible shopfront is still there, and much of the interior tiling remains, but the formica tables and the salt and pepper shakers are gone, as sadly it’s now home to a seller of expensive eyewear. I’m honoured to have had the chance to photograph our full English and café pegboard t shirts, homages to the great British caff, at such a legend of its type.
We did a few collaborations in the early years, with Liberty, two with Selfridges, and one with Topshop. The campaign images for the Topshop launch were taken by Thomas Cooksey at the famous F. Cooke’s, which was a pie & mash shop on Broadway Market in East London. The incredible shopfront is still there, and much of the interior tiling remains, but the formica tables and the salt and pepper shakers are gone, as sadly it’s now home to a seller of expensive eyewear. I’m honoured to have had the chance to photograph our full English and café pegboard t shirts, homages to the great British caff, at such a legend of its type.
I’d first met Lee through the Blackburn’s Festival of Making. We shot these images around the streets of Blackburn town centre, street casting students from Blackburn College as our models. It’s hard to pick a favourite image from this super fun shoot. I loved the ones we took at The Chippery, providing great cheap food to so many students over the years (sadly also now gone). But this one of Aml in the RAF blue sweatshirt in front of Kwik Fit - the faded sign the same shade of blue, its bright yellow lettering perfectly matching the paint job of the Lancia fortuitously parked outside - makes for an amazing image.
A picture of me in front of the red painted shutters also taken that day, wearing worn chore jeans and a navy jumper, remains one of my favourite and most used portraits.
I’d first met Lee through the Blackburn’s Festival of Making. We shot these images around the streets of Blackburn town centre, street casting students from Blackburn College as our models. It’s hard to pick a favourite image from this super fun shoot. I loved the ones we took at The Chippery, providing great cheap food to so many students over the years (sadly also now gone). But this one of Aml in the RAF blue sweatshirt in front of Kwik Fit - the faded sign the same shade of blue, its bright yellow lettering perfectly matching the paint job of the Lancia fortuitously parked outside - makes for an amazing image.
A picture of me in front of the red painted shutters also taken that day, wearing worn chore jeans and a navy jumper, remains one of my favourite and most used portraits.
I’d worked with James at E. Tautz and loved his pictures. We wanted a free outdoor location that was easy for everyone to get to, and likely to be decent enough weather to shoot some of our new summer clothes, so we chose to shoot at Wasted Flats in London. Our model Sean ran a brilliant vegan café in Peckham called The Odds which I liked a lot. He and Angelina had such a gentle, easy vibe on the day. This picture of the two of them, Sean looking off, slightly out of focus, with Angelina’s look directly down the lens is another all-time favourite.
I’d worked with James at E. Tautz and loved his pictures. We wanted a free outdoor location that was easy for everyone to get to, and likely to be decent enough weather to shoot some of our new summer clothes, so we chose to shoot at Wasted Flats in London. Our model Sean ran a brilliant vegan café in Peckham called The Odds which I liked a lot. He and Angelina had such a gentle, easy vibe on the day. This picture of the two of them, Sean looking off, slightly out of focus, with Angelina’s look directly down the lens is another all-time favourite.
I’ve always been slightly obsessed with old sporting clubs. When I first moved to Blackburn, I would stay at Chimneys B&B on Preston New Road, and on nice evenings I’d walk to Corporation Park, where I’d pass the East Lancs Sporting Club with its immaculately tended bowling green and fabulous 1960s clubhouse. I wrote to them and asked if they’d let us shoot there, and also model for us, and very happily they said yes to both. Something about the septuagenarian and octogenarian members wearing clothes made in their hometown was really special, and Lee’s photographs capture the spirit of the place and the humour of the members to a tee.
I’ve always been slightly obsessed with old sporting clubs. When I first moved to Blackburn, I would stay at Chimneys B&B on Preston New Road, and on nice evenings I’d walk to Corporation Park, where I’d pass the East Lancs Sporting Club with its immaculately tended bowling green and fabulous 1960s clubhouse. I wrote to them and asked if they’d let us shoot there, and also model for us, and very happily they said yes to both. Something about the septuagenarian and octogenarian members wearing clothes made in their hometown was really special, and Lee’s photographs capture the spirit of the place and the humour of the members to a tee.
My good friend Claire is a professional dancer, she teaches dance and at the time had just toured a dance show about plastic waste, so she couldn’t have been more perfectly placed to help with our plastic-free sportswear launch. She choreographed and helped enlist a cast of brilliant dancers, acrobats and students. She also got us the Pavillion Theatres Dance studio for an amazing knockdown price. Josh has shot all over the world, but he’d recently moved back the West Country, and this was almost in his back yard. Josh shot the stills (my colleague Mike Maddems, the DOP from Sewing Bee, shot the video) and this image of Claire sums up the overwhelming abundance of vitality and joy she and her dancers brought to the day.
My good friend Claire is a professional dancer, she teaches dance and at the time had just toured a dance show about plastic waste, so she couldn’t have been more perfectly placed to help with our plastic-free sportswear launch. She choreographed and helped enlist a cast of brilliant dancers, acrobats and students. She also got us the Pavillion Theatres Dance studio for an amazing knockdown price. Josh has shot all over the world, but he’d recently moved back the West Country, and this was almost in his back yard. Josh shot the stills (my colleague Mike Maddems, the DOP from Sewing Bee, shot the video) and this image of Claire sums up the overwhelming abundance of vitality and joy she and her dancers brought to the day.
Darwen Market, just a few miles from our HQ in Blackburn, is an institution. A place of colour and character and was, I felt, an ideal location to shoot some new colours of our cotton sweatshirts. We’d first met and worked with Jack when he was a student at Blackburn College, and we gave him the assignment of shooting the stallholders and customers (myself included). This photo of me with a mug of tea at Ste’s Place is particularly poignant as Ste died not long after these photos were taken. I still regularly use the Ste’s Place mug that I bought that day.
Darwen Market, just a few miles from our HQ in Blackburn, is an institution. A place of colour and character and was, I felt, an ideal location to shoot some new colours of our cotton sweatshirts. We’d first met and worked with Jack when he was a student at Blackburn College, and we gave him the assignment of shooting the stallholders and customers (myself included). This photo of me with a mug of tea at Ste’s Place is particularly poignant as Ste died not long after these photos were taken. I still regularly use the Ste’s Place mug that I bought that day.
I met Stuart on a mad day cycling from one of our knitting mills in Leicester to our factory in Blackburn with legendary former pro cyclist David Millar. It was a day I will never forget for lots of reasons, not least because it was my stupid suggestion that we do this ride in the first place. As well as being a tidy cyclist and an award-winning photographer, Stuart is also a half-decent skateboarder, part of a great skate community in and around the south Essex coast where he lives. To launch our field trousers, we asked a handful of Stuart’s skater buds to put them through their paces. We got so many great images, and amongst them a shot of Drew Fenn doing a nose blunt pull-in at East Beach, Shoeburyness is epic - it was caught at a no-going-back moment, facing down the huge drop to the concrete embankment below. But this simple portrait of Shannon Lay, another local skater, the graffiti perfectly matching her yellow shoelace belt and Amy Winehouse tattoo, is really special.
I met Stuart on a mad day cycling from one of our knitting mills in Leicester to our factory in Blackburn with legendary former pro cyclist David Millar. It was a day I will never forget for lots of reasons, not least because it was my stupid suggestion that we do this ride in the first place. As well as being a tidy cyclist and an award-winning photographer, Stuart is also a half-decent skateboarder, part of a great skate community in and around the south Essex coast where he lives. To launch our field trousers, we asked a handful of Stuart’s skater buds to put them through their paces. We got so many great images, and amongst them a shot of Drew Fenn doing a nose blunt pull-in at East Beach, Shoeburyness is epic - it was caught at a no-going-back moment, facing down the huge drop to the concrete embankment below. But this simple portrait of Shannon Lay, another local skater, the graffiti perfectly matching her yellow shoelace belt and Amy Winehouse tattoo, is really special.
Chris Floyd is one the best portrait photographers on the planet, and also one of the most fun people I’ve ever worked with. We first met when he shot me for a magazine nearly twenty years ago and during the shoot we discussed a road trip I was about to take, filming a load of British factories for US Esquire. As we were finishing the day, he asked if he could come too, and he did! We’ve been great friends and worked together loads since then. I couldn’t think of anyone better to shoot our pants in Wales.
We put a call out to every Welsh person we knew, asking if they’d wear our Welsh-made pants for a shoot in Cardiff. Many said yes, and between their bravery and Chris’s amazing skill, the results were way beyond anything we could have hoped for. This image of Sara is my pick from a host of brilliant photos Chris took that day (even if you can’t actually see the pants).
Chris Floyd is one the best portrait photographers on the planet, and also one of the most fun people I’ve ever worked with. We first met when he shot me for a magazine nearly twenty years ago and during the shoot we discussed a road trip I was about to take, filming a load of British factories for US Esquire. As we were finishing the day, he asked if he could come too, and he did! We’ve been great friends and worked together loads since then. I couldn’t think of anyone better to shoot our pants in Wales.
We put a call out to every Welsh person we knew, asking if they’d wear our Welsh-made pants for a shoot in Cardiff. Many said yes, and between their bravery and Chris’s amazing skill, the results were way beyond anything we could have hoped for. This image of Sara is my pick from a host of brilliant photos Chris took that day (even if you can’t actually see the pants).
I’d invited Esme to the Festival of Making in Blackburn to do a Q&A, and I couldn’t miss the opportunity to photograph her in the Esme shirt she’d inspired, in the town where they are made. Nathan is a Blackburn-based photographer and our absolute go-to. We’ve worked with him more than anyone else over the years shooting our ecommerce pictures, but he’s also, as this image proves, a great portrait photographer. Blackburn Museum incredibly generously let us set up a makeshift studio in one of their galleries, and this shot of Esme in pearls and red lippy (to match her favourite red watch strap), is my favourite ever photo of my very dear friend, and one of my absolute favourite CC photographs.
We also shot a picture of both of us, really simply lit, next to one of the museum’s historic looms. I’m not sure we’ve ever shown it before, but it’s a photo I really should print and frame.
I’d invited Esme to the Festival of Making in Blackburn to do a Q&A, and I couldn’t miss the opportunity to photograph her in the Esme shirt she’d inspired, in the town where they are made. Nathan is a Blackburn-based photographer and our absolute go-to. We’ve worked with him more than anyone else over the years shooting our ecommerce pictures, but he’s also, as this image proves, a great portrait photographer. Blackburn Museum incredibly generously let us set up a makeshift studio in one of their galleries, and this shot of Esme in pearls and red lippy (to match her favourite red watch strap), is my favourite ever photo of my very dear friend, and one of my absolute favourite CC photographs.
We also shot a picture of both of us, really simply lit, next to one of the museum’s historic looms. I’m not sure we’ve ever shown it before, but it’s a photo I really should print and frame.
I’d invited Esme to the Festival of Making in Blackburn to do a Q&A, and I couldn’t miss the opportunity to photograph her in the Esme shirt she’d inspired, in the town where they are made. Nathan is a Blackburn-based photographer and our absolute go-to. We’ve worked with him more than anyone else over the years shooting our ecommerce pictures, but he’s also, as this image proves, a great portrait photographer. Blackburn Museum incredibly generously let us set up a makeshift studio in one of their galleries, and this shot of Esme in pearls and red lippy (to match her favourite red watch strap), is my favourite ever photo of my very dear friend, and one of my absolute favourite CC photographs.
We also shot a picture of both of us, really simply lit, next to one of the museum’s historic looms. I’m not sure we’ve ever shown it before, but it’s a photo I really should print and frame.
I’d invited Esme to the Festival of Making in Blackburn to do a Q&A, and I couldn’t miss the opportunity to photograph her in the Esme shirt she’d inspired, in the town where they are made. Nathan is a Blackburn-based photographer and our absolute go-to. We’ve worked with him more than anyone else over the years shooting our ecommerce pictures, but he’s also, as this image proves, a great portrait photographer. Blackburn Museum incredibly generously let us set up a makeshift studio in one of their galleries, and this shot of Esme in pearls and red lippy (to match her favourite red watch strap), is my favourite ever photo of my very dear friend, and one of my absolute favourite CC photographs.
We also shot a picture of both of us, really simply lit, next to one of the museum’s historic looms. I’m not sure we’ve ever shown it before, but it’s a photo I really should print and frame.
I’d invited Esme to the Festival of Making in Blackburn to do a Q&A, and I couldn’t miss the opportunity to photograph her in the Esme shirt she’d inspired, in the town where they are made. Nathan is a Blackburn-based photographer and our absolute go-to. We’ve worked with him more than anyone else over the years shooting our ecommerce pictures, but he’s also, as this image proves, a great portrait photographer. Blackburn Museum incredibly generously let us set up a makeshift studio in one of their galleries, and this shot of Esme in pearls and red lippy (to match her favourite red watch strap), is my favourite ever photo of my very dear friend, and one of my absolute favourite CC photographs.
We also shot a picture of both of us, really simply lit, next to one of the museum’s historic looms. I’m not sure we’ve ever shown it before, but it’s a photo I really should print and frame.
I’d invited Esme to the Festival of Making in Blackburn to do a Q&A, and I couldn’t miss the opportunity to photograph her in the Esme shirt she’d inspired, in the town where they are made. Nathan is a Blackburn-based photographer and our absolute go-to. We’ve worked with him more than anyone else over the years shooting our ecommerce pictures, but he’s also, as this image proves, a great portrait photographer. Blackburn Museum incredibly generously let us set up a makeshift studio in one of their galleries, and this shot of Esme in pearls and red lippy (to match her favourite red watch strap), is my favourite ever photo of my very dear friend, and one of my absolute favourite CC photographs.
We also shot a picture of both of us, really simply lit, next to one of the museum’s historic looms. I’m not sure we’ve ever shown it before, but it’s a photo I really should print and frame.
Celebrating 10 Years of Community Clothing. The highs, the lows, the socks and the factories
It's time to share our half annual impact figures, and once again it has been a fantastically positive six months. Lots of new customers, a couple of new factories we're developing product with (and a gang of hand knitters), and lots of skilled work created.
