Lavenham is two things: an idyllic countryside town in the deep of Suffolk and the namesake of a clothing brand, chiefly known for their contributions to the world of gilets and quilted coats.
In the little town of Lavenham, way back in 1980, Howard Marks – Mr. Nice – was arrested for smuggling bricks of hash into the UK. Around the same time, Steve Sanderson – one half of Oi Polloi’s founding duo – was (most likely) smoking said goods in the middle of Manchester’s cultural adolescence, which saw the city become what we see today, and enabled it to become the platform that Oi Polloi could grow from.
“Electro casual” Oi Polloi declares. “Lover’s Rock. Late night parties. The Gallery. Italian lux sportswear. DIY aesthetics. Early hip-hop straight outta NYC.” These are the influences that birthed Oi Polloi, and somehow, combined with a love for “outdoor pursuits of the 20th-century leisure class” – you know, horses, polo, a shared dislike of foxes – the same influences that pointed them toward Lavenham – the clothing brand, not the village – 40 years later.
Oi Polloi has recruited the good gentlemen and women at Lavenham for a range of American-inspired bomber jackets and gilets. The result is a fresh-out-of-Suffolk collection made of quilted polyester, with a colour palette inspired by the Range Rover Mark 1, and they look just as good on a wellington-trotting winter walk as they do styled on the cool cats at Oi Polloi below.
The collection goes live at 10am February 1st, exclusively at Oi Polloi.
