Two British Brands - Sunspel x Nigel Cabourn

With over 200 years of combined history, Sunspel’s collaboration with iconic British designer Nigel Cabourn dives into the rich archives of both brands. Cabourn spoke to us about the collection, his influences and Scunthorpe United.

“The last time I saw equipment like that,” Nigel Cabourn says with a glint as he lowers into a chair, “I was with David Bailey!” The photographers chuckle, making their final tweaks. We’re in the Sunspel archive, a musty room above the brand’s factory in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, where records, swatches and random titbits from 160 years of history are kept. White-washed wooden beams slant above us and through the dusty windows red brick walls and old factory rooves jagger into the distance.

Cabourn ruffles through the upcoming collaboration laid out on the leather-topped table. “I love this striped crew neck,” he says to Jim, his right-hand man who’s accompanied him from Newcastle, “The quality is beautiful. Take a shot would you,” he lifts the shirt as if he’d just signed for his favourite football club, “I love it, really love it. I’ve got six.”

The Sunspel archive is a fitting place for an interview. Cabourn has been a leading figure in the British fashion industry since he left college in 1971, exactly 111 years after Sunspel was founded. Naturally, the two brands have rich archives and both play a central role in the collaboration. It’s the first of two, released this spring, and Cabourn has made it clear he’s pleased with it. 

Cabourn has been a leading figure in the British fashion industry since…1971, exactly 111 years after Sunspel was founded.

“Well, I mean, you know,” he says as he orders his thoughts, “I think the biggest inspiration behind the collaboration is working with such an old company,” he looks around the small room, at the swatches, old adverts and cotton-coloured samples, “And it’s a British company, with an amazing archive and history. I’m really proud of this collab you know. I personally wear a lot of the pieces. Look, I’ve got the mesh vest on now actually.”

He fishes under the shoulder of his dungarees to pull out the strap.

“I like to wear lots of layers, starting off with the mesh. At my age you have to. Coming up for 75 this year…”

Once we’d all seen the vest, he flattened his dungarees and continued his serpentine train of thought. “When I came to Sunspel I realised they’d been working with this kind of mesh for 70…80 years and I was gobsmacked. I was seeing these pieces from their archive and I said, oh my God, we’ve got to do that.”

“The biggest inspiration behind the collaboration is working with such an old company, and it’s a British company, with an amazing archive and history.”

I ask him why it is he likes to wear the collaboration.

“I would think it’s the quality,” he replies, sliding back in his chair, “The cotton is very sophisticated. It’s got real quality to it and it feels totally different."

He takes a handful of the T-shirts on the table, savouring the feel. “This is probably my favourite piece. These are classic Cabourn stripes you know, I’ve been doing these my whole career. And we made these T-shirts right here in the factory. It's great to work with a brand which has a great production facility in the UK. I'm able to come in and express my character.”

The T-shirts’ silky-soft handle is no coincidence. The collaboration merges Sunspel’s fabric expertise and dedication to comfort with Cabourn’s design aesthetic. Sunspel’s icons, the Classic T-shirt, the Riviera Polo mesh fabric and the Boxer Short, provide an underlying theme.

“So this one was based on the Sunspel boxer,” Cabourn explains, holding up the ripstop short, “Let’s be fair, Sunspel has been making boxer shorts a lot longer than I have…I’d have to ask Dave when exactly… When did you start making boxer shorts Dave?” he shouts to the Sunspel creative director.

“1947,” David Telfer replies.

“I was born in ’49, so they’re older even than me. Which takes a bit of doing…!”

The collaboration merges Sunspel’s fabric expertise and dedication to comfort with Cabourn’s design aesthetic.

By now the photography team is happy they’ve got all they need. The crew starts moving kit downstairs to the factory but I’m interested in where the military and sportswear themes, which run through the collection and right through his 50-year career, originate.

“Well,” he ponders, “My father fought in Burma in the Second World War and my grandfather was in the trenches. I was very, very close to my dad. It must have had some sort of impact on my thoughts.”

He tells me his father and grandfather heavily influenced his love of sports too. Particularly regarding one constant in Cabourn’s life: Scunthorpe United. It’s not the first time the club has been mentioned, and it isn’t the last. He tells us they’re in the 5th Division now before he fondly reminisces about family trips to the terraces in the 50s. “So I suppose that’s where the military and sportswear influences come from. I love history and I love doing things with a real story.”

“It’s great to work with a brand which has a great production facility in the UK. I'm able to come in and express my character.”

We’re being called downstairs. We follow the crew under the beams, past the design team half-hidden in towering piles of samples, past peeling wooden signs and the occasional plant clinging to cracks in the red brick walls. Sunspel has been here since 1937 and there’s plenty of evidence to support it.

We pull open the heavy wooden doors to the factory floor. The hum of sewing machines fills the air as Cabourn cheerfully greets the employees. They’re sewing Sunspel’s unique Supima cotton fabric, striped with Cabourn’s colours, into the T-shirts we saw upstairs. Rolls of the uncut fabric are laid out on the cutting table. For the second time that morning, Cabourn takes a handful and savours it.

“It’s a very special place,” he tells us and there’s a sudden quiet as the machines fall silent, the employees lean in to listen, “I’m very proud of working with these jersey workers. It takes me back to when I used to do this in the 80s. You would never get this quality anywhere else.”

“What is it about making clothes in England that’s important to you?” I ask as the machines begin to whir once more.

“It’s a funny question really, because, well… I’m made in England! So you stick to your roots. I was born not in Newcastle where I live now, but in Scunthorpe. I still support the football team even though they’re in the fifth division…! But it’s great to do a collab with somebody you really respect. We’ve ended up here with a very good collaboration with two British brands. I’m really proud of it.”

Words by Nico Lethbridge

Photography: Andre Vasilijev

Videography: James Cox