How it started / Notes from my side

It started with learning to sew.

I’m James. I started this in a bedroom in Manchester with a sewing machine and a fairly strong opinion about clothes. The sewing skills arrived slightly later.

01 / The bedroom studio

Right idea. Different course.

2020. I start Fashion Art Direction at Manchester Metropolitan University and specialise in film. I’m learning how to tell stories, make films and build a brand. All very useful. Three years in, I realise I also want to make the actual clothes. A fairly significant detail to discover at that stage.

The sewing facilities are for a different course. My best friend Connor TD Davidson finds a Viking sewing machine for £30 in a Grimsby charity shop. I ask him, “Can I borrow it for a week?”

That was four years ago. It’s been quite a week. It’s still the same machine I use to put labels on and do any last-minute sewing on products.

I teach myself in my bedroom and film it as I go. At least I’ve chosen a course that lets me document the consequences.

I thought I’d made the wrong move. Looking back, art direction gave me the skills to bring all this to life. I just had to learn the sewing bit myself.

02 / 2023–2024

Some assembly required.

2023. For my university project, I design an asymmetrical vest with three buttons across the body. The earliest Felix Vest. I turn it into a DIY kit: pre-cut fabric, the resources to make it, and packaging that becomes a laptop sleeve and satchel. Apparently just making a vest wasn’t enough work.

I put the project on YouTube. It doesn’t take off. An excellent opportunity to develop character.

But making it has changed the way I look at clothes. Once you’ve had to put one together, you start noticing all the work you used to walk straight past. My dissertation explores made-to-order fashion and DIY, and the idea starts to feel like something I should actually pursue.

2024. I graduate. Cold On A Sunday stops being a university project. There’s no marking criteria for the next bit, which is both a relief and a problem.

03 / 2025

A jacket sells. Now what?

2025. The Connor jacket becomes a bestseller. There are fireman clasps, more releases, then the Shep jacket goes viral. People are actually wearing things I’ve made. That still gets me.

Behind all that, I’m learning how to run a business. From scratch. I haven’t arrived with a background in finance, or a secret understanding of cash flow. I’ve arrived with opinions about jackets.

Pricing, production, orders. I’m figuring it out while doing it. The clothes are getting somewhere. I’m trying to keep up.

04 / 2026

Two collections. Still learning.

2026. Not So Cowboy brings the Nesta Shirt, Josh Jacket and Colby Trousers. Lost at Sea follows with the Felix Vest and Shep Jacket. Both in the same year. Apparently I’ve learned very little about giving myself less to do.

I design by the sea in Cleethorpes. A small, family-run factory in London produces the clothes. The scale has changed since the bedroom, but I still get just as excited about a shape, a fabric, or a button doing something slightly different.

I’m still learning. And the next thing I want to do takes me right back to the start: helping other people make something themselves.

More about the brand

About us / A note from James

A brand that makes nothing.

An unusual introduction for someone trying to sell you clothes. Bear with me.

I don’t want to make things just to have more things to sell. Your response helps prove what’s worth producing. Nothing without a reason. Nothing without care, intention, quality and consideration.

At the heart of it, I just want the clothes to be worn. Not wasted.

01 / The clothes

I have a thing about the shape.

I make unisex clothes with roots in workwear, a few military references, and a lot of interest in Japanese asymmetry, silhouettes and blocking. Which is the reasonably sensible explanation for why I’m so interested in putting a fastening somewhere unexpected.

I care about how a garment falls, where it sits, what happens when you leave it open. Texture, drape, proportion. The sort of things I can talk about for much longer than anyone asked.

But it has to work when you wear it. I want you to chuck it on with the clothes you already own and feel like you’ve found another way to wear them.

02 / How we work

First, a reason to make it.

Each drop starts with pre-order. You help show me what people actually want before we commit to production. A better starting point than me guessing very confidently.

The pieces are produced by a small, family-run factory in London. We may make a few extras after a drop, but pre-order is where it begins.

There’s a wait. I know. I want to use that time properly: considering the details and giving the work the attention it needs.

03 / Our approach

Slow fashion. Made slower.

I grew up in Cleethorpes watching my dad make furniture and turn our house into something beautiful. Making things yourself was normal. So was waiting for something to be made. Nobody seemed to think a table should arrive before you’d decided where to put it.

That stayed with me. I’d rather take the time to question a design and get the details right than rush another thing out because the calendar looks a bit empty.

I’m not interested in pretending making is flawless, either. Things go wrong. You own it, speak to the customer and find a fix. That’s what credibility looks like to me.

Pre-orders let us make a little extra stock after each drop, so people who discover the brand later still have a chance to buy.

04 / The people

It’s not just me.

There are other people making this work. They deserve more than a passing mention while I talk about another jacket.

James

Founder

That’s me. I design the clothes, make the films and look after the creative direction. I taught myself to sew in my bedroom and have been learning how to run the business ever since. Usually wearing something I made. Quite likely explaining a button.

Elliot

Marketing and Brand Director

Elliot is our Marketing and Brand Director. He helps get the ideas out into the world and deals with the less visible work that keeps the brand moving. I can spend a long time explaining why something should exist. Elliot helps work out how anyone’s going to hear about it.

Kristel

Operations and Brand Director

Kristel is our Operations and Brand Director. She brings order to the work behind the clothes, handles the details and helps solve the problems. She knows her way around a spreadsheet. I have a great deal of respect for this, having chosen a career largely based on fabric.

05 / Made by you

The best thing a clothing brand can do is make you need it less.

Possibly an odd ambition to put on my own shop. I mean it, though.

Learning to sew gave me more control over what I wear, how it fits and what I keep. It also made me appreciate the fabric, time and work in clothes I hadn’t made. I want more people to have that.

A new DIY kit is planned for 2027: a garment you can make at home. The same idea I started with in my bedroom, with a bit more experience behind it this time.

I’d love you to wear something I’ve designed. I’d also love you to get to the point where you think you could make it yourself. Preferably tell me how it goes. I’m still learning too.

See how it started