Another interview that I carried out with menswear label Hawkwood Mercantile. Richard has a similar ethos to that of Mamnick and a methodology to work that I am extremely inspired by.
Tell me a bit about the origins of Hawkwood Mercantile, and the ethos behind the company. Why did you start it?
I’ve been interested in clothes since I was very young, especially military clothing. I went to art school & somehow drifted into studying textiles, I then worked briefly as a textile designer after leaving college, but ended up working all kinds of jobs working in a bakery to an investment bank & everything in between. After 15 years or so, I’d had enough of working in an office & wanted to get back to doing something creative & to get out of London. I’d started selling art works through a friend’s shop in Shoreditch, which went really well & that gave me the confidence to do something bigger. I had the chance to move to India & thought it would be a good opportunity to start something.
I’ve not consciously thought about an ethos as such. I just want to make good quality, lasting menswear, that’s realistically priced & that people love. I’m not bothered about being the biggest company, but I want to make the best clothing that we possibly can.
How would you describe your style of work?
High quality utilitarian clothing. Everything on piece should have a function otherwise it has to go. Sometimes, it’s a little as possible design by me, more just changing the fabric or fit of an original vintage piece to make it more wearable. I only use natural materials at the moment, but that’s really just because that’s what I have access to locally. In a way it’s good, because it gives me a little bit of discipline that I might not normally have had. I would like to do some more technical pieces eventually as well.
I’ve always been interested in clothes & personal style, but I’m not particularly interested in fashion as such & I make clothes for men who feel the same way, who like to feel well dressed without feeling as if they’re ‘dressed up’.
The way we work is quite old-fashioned. Each piece is cut to order by our master tailor, then made made from start to finish by one tailor, which is very rare these days. I then give each piece a final once over whilst bagging & tagging myself. I like to joke that I’m somewhere between a mod tailor & an army quartermaster.
What inspires you?
Vintage military clothing first & foremost & I have a collection of pieces, particularly US & British kit from WW2 up to the Cold War which I use for reference. Also vintage outdoor clothing. I used to be a keen (though not particularly good) rock climber, as well regularly going hiking & doing a spot of winter mountaineering in the UK. Action Man & the British youth subcultures of my youth are still big inspirations.
What are your favourite brands and what is it about them that you particularly like?
I’m a big fan of Nigel Cabourn, Margaret Howell & Daiki Suzuki (especially the work he did while at Woolwich Woollen Mills), Post Overalls & a whole load of Japanese labels like Corona, Snow Peak, Workers & Mt. Rainier Design. With Cabourn & Howell, although they’re very different in terms of design & look, it’s their commitment to quality which stands out. The thing I like about the Japanese brands is their unique take on British & American heritage menswear. I also really admire what Kenneth MacKenzie of 6876, not only in terms of design, but also his refusal to compromise the way they do business & fit in with the modern retail cycle of working seasonally & then having sales to make way for the next season.
Do you believe that in some areas of fashion, branding is starting to become more important than the quality of the product and is that something you are trying to change with Hawkwood Mercantile?
Totally. I think actually it’s something that started in the 1990’s & has seen a resurgence lately. I blame the whole ‘streetwear’ thing, which is a term I hate at the best of times. I was living in New York for a while in the mid-nineties, when labels like Supreme, Union, Alife & X-Large were just starting out. That was really the birth of streetwear it was really more important to be seen to be wearing the ‘right’ clothing, rather than to be wearing good clothing.
I think it can lead to really lazy design where you can almost buy in a load of blank t-shirts & slap a logo on them & what you end up selling is the idea of buying into a brand, which you can seen to be wearing by others rather than a well designed piece of clothing that you can cherish personally.
I don’t use any external branding & people have often told me that I should, but I’m very resistant. Conversely, I have had some clients tell me that they don’t tell anyone who the stuff is by & I get that kind of oneupmanship rather than just wearing something that has a companies name plastered all over it.
I don’t know if I’m trying to change that with Hawkwood Mercantile, I doubt we’ll ever be big enough to change anything (possibly because we don’t use external branding), but I’m trying to avoid those pitfalls & I have the luxury of being able to do that as I haven’t taken outside investment so I don’t have anyone pestering me for a quick return. I’ve gone from being a one man band to having half a dozen employees in the last year & as long as I can pay them each month & people are happy with the clothes then I consider the company a success.
