Origins

The world needs pioneers, people willing to try something new, break new ground, set out on new paths.

We’re proud to support innovation while valuing the skills of artisans where hard-won expertise is passed on from one generation to the next. That’s why we take such care over the design and manufacture of our clothing, using only the finest natural materials combined with the greatest craftsmanship. These are garments built to stand the test of time. We take the best from the past to create powerful ideas for the here and now.

But for some of our Pioneers, this is simply the beginning… 

Blue Bolt Jacket

An Introduction

The &SONS Abstracts series follows the journey of our clothing as it is reborn into unique, one-off pieces of art by the creatives who wear them. We delve into what inspires them, the reason they create their work and watch our clothing take on an entirely new personality as they paint, stitch and fabricate completely new garments using our clothes as the starting point. 

For the first edition in the series, we reached out to one of our contributors; a creative who we have worked before and someone who we admire as a writer, designer and illustrator. Here’s Chris’ story…

The artwork embroidered on the back of my &SONS Blue Bolt Chore Jacket is inspired by the most tasteless quote from one of my all-time favourite movies, Jaws: “Here’s to swimming with bow-legged women.” The line is delivered by the salty, shark-hunting boat captain, Quint, as he hands a shot glass of his homemade hooch to the police chief, who sips the swill and immediately spits it up. Throughout the film Quint proves himself to be a ghastly, misogynistic, overall terrible human, but even still I always wanted to love him. Love, not admiration, and that love for him has always been confused because if I met Quint in real life, and he spoke sexist or tasteless, I’d shove a fist down his throat. Fortunately, that isn’t a situation we’ll ever find ourselves in, because Quint is a fictional character from a ‘70s summer blockbuster, and as such, I can appreciate him as an oddly charming son of a bitch who gives no fucks about anyone else’s opinions or feelings.

Those skills are developing, and my style is evolving, but honestly, I don’t give a shit about either of those things, because for me drawing is about the process, not the result. While I’m always aware of what my hands and eyes are doing, I’m not really paying attention, because I’m engaged in the conversation that’s going on inside of my head. Most of those conversations are uncomfortable and poignant, but that’s why they’re necessary and sometimes transformative. I want to grow and move forward as a better, more self-assured human, and for too long I believed the lies that I told myself, and ignored this calling, but now here I am, figuring it out and falling in love with hidden parts of myself that I wish I’d seen decades ago. The longer I draw, the less I see similarities between me and Quint, and it makes me love him more.

If I could I’d pour Quint a drink, slide it across the table, and cheers him with my seltzer water: “Here’s to swimming with bow-legged women, you misogynistic shithead.”

For us, this series will reflect the world we now live in and we’ve loved hearing stories of those who embraced the recent lockdown period and chose not to bury their heads in self-pity but took the time to refine latent skills or learn something completely new. These are our Pioneers and we love to share their stories. 

 

Through the lens: fforest, Wales

Abstracts - Bill Farrelly