Something we think about all the time at Drake’s, is that we
want to make clothing that is perennial — clothing that goes on and
on. It’s something that we want to really emphasise more, going
forward. Even though we have seasonal collections, we feel that
there’s a sense of sustainability in what we’re selling within
those collections. It’s not a matter of fashion, things that go in
and out of vogue. When we make a sale, we want that item to go to
someone who’s going to wear it, care for it, love it and enjoy it
for a very long time. That’s what’s interesting about The Rake
Values, you’re making those sorts of long-term purchases more
accessible.
Many of the suppliers that we work with have been in business
for decades and some, for hundreds of years. We don’t work with
them because they can make something at the lowest price, but
because they can make the highest quality. We believe in supporting
what our suppliers do, showing we’re committed to them. We could
certainly find cheaper places to source, but that’s not the point.
We want to produce clothing that’s special and authentic, the real
thing. Perhaps that means you can’t buy things as often, but that’s
OK by us. We’re happy to sell a bit less, but to do it in the right
way, and to make things that last and will provide our customers
with real enduring value. Gosh, I’m certainly not making out of
that we’re saving the world, not by any means. But a vision of the
long term has always been important to us. I’ve got clothes that
were passed down from my father, or my grandfather, and I love
that. And that’s pretty sustainable, isn’t it? I hope that things
from Drake’s will be passed down the generations by our customers,
that they’ll go on and on being useful.
Pretty much everything we make uses only natural fibres, and
we’re very conscious of ethical sourcing of materials and working
with ethical manufacturers. Most of what we make is produced in the
UK and Italy. We’re proud of that. I’m not saying we would never
produce elsewhere, if there was a particular capability we could
find elsewhere, where they did it better, but it has got to be for
the right reasons. We would never move manufacturing elsewhere
simply on the basis of price. That’s boring. It’s dull. We don’t
have to do that. And it’s just not good enough to do that. Perhaps
that results in the product sometimes being perceived as expensive
— albeit, much less expensive than a lot of other brands. I fully
appreciate that many people would say what we do is quite
expensive. However, I would suggest that there’s a lot of value in
it as well. Something can be expensive, but still great value if
you get years of use and enjoyment out of it, and appreciate the
work that went into it. It’s simply a matter of explaining or
demonstrating that value to the customer, telling that story.
People are getting more conscious of sustainability, and of
craftsmanship — thinking about how the things they consume are
made, and who they’re made by. There’s a convergence of the two,
they work in parallel. And isn’t it interesting that this interest
in craftsmanship and organic, farm-to-table and so forth has come
along at a time when we’re more dependent than ever on technology?
We, the human race, are becoming closer and closer to technology,
it’s becoming more influential in our lives. And yet when it comes
to clothing, there’s ever-increasing interest in products that have
come from somebody’s hand, products that have a human being and
therefore a story and a history behind them. I find that
fascinating. It makes a lot of sense that we should want the things
we put on or into our bodies to be natural. And it’s quite
reassuring, frankly, knowing there’s a human and not just a machine
behind these things. That’s what I think, at least.
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