The fabric was so successful that the early founders of the brand decided to start making outerwear for general sale
in the form of rain coats, trench coats and golfing jackets in 1930. They were super popular not only to punters but
they became the focus of nigh on every mountaineering expedition and record-breaking attempt there was. You name it,
Grenfell cloth probably enveloped it, whether it was a tent such as those used in the 1932 Everest Expedition where
the fabric reigned supreme at basecamp; or Sir Henry Cotton, the leading golfer of his generation winning The Open
Championship in 1937; or British Army and Royal Air Force officers during the Second World War. “I’ve even read
online that the original Mae West life jackets made for this conflict were constructed out of Grenfell cloth,” says
Azzam proudly. The iconic vests, which could inflate in seconds, were said to resemble the generous bosom of the
American actress and sex symbol, when fully inflated.
When Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing reached the summit of Everest in 1953 they were both wearing Grenfell
cloth; “Gregory Peck wore our Walker jacket down the Cresta Run in St Moritz, too” adds Azzam, “and there’s Sir
Sterling Moss in his Grenfell Racing suit when he won the Mille Miglia in Italy, not to mention members of The Royal
Family, too.” I ask about the feasibility of Grenfell’s Royal Warrant being reinstated (after initially having it
bestowed on the brand in 1958), and Mo tells me he’s working hard to achieve just that. Glancing further along the
timeline we spy American actor and style icon Carry Grant wearing a Grenfell Campbell raincoat, but, “this is one of
my favourites” says Azzam, pointing to a picture of Sir David Attenborough wearing a Grenfell Walker Jacket when he
first encountered gorillas in the BBC documentary Life on Earth in 1978 – a pivotal moment in history. It
was the first time anyone had ever captured them on these natives of the forest-clad slopes of the Virunga
Volcanoes, in Rwanda, on camera, let alone get up close and personal with them.
In the 1980s Grenfell was sold to a Japanese company who subsequently held the brand dormant. “That’s when they
approached my Dad,” says Azzam. “He’s had clothing factories specialising in luxury outerwear in London since 1984.
His first clients were Katharine Hamnett and the late Joe Casely-Hayford – my Dad was responsible for his first
collection produced out of the factory he used to have in Whitechapel. But he soon outgrew it and moved to bigger
premises in Bow. This is when we started to make coats for Burberry, Aquascutum and Daks,” adds Azzam. “We were
producing 400 coats per week for Burberry and 200 each for Aquascutum and Daks.”
“The Japanese owners of Grenfell heard about my Dad’s reputation and the fact that he’d established some very
successful outerwear factories. In the late 1990s when brands were starting to move their manufacturing to the Far
East, around Europe, a lot of factories in the UK were closing their doors because there was no longer enough work.
But Dad didn’t want to close down, he’d built up a such a good team, such a nice factory,” continues Azam.
Initially the Japanese owners wanted to offer Azam senior a UK license – but, says Mo, “my Dad is such a good
negotiator that he ended up buying the whole brand back from them and returning it to the UK once more.” He started
with zero turnover, but insisted it was his own little project that he wanted to revive. Initially he didn’t update
the styles, concentrating instead on the classic, more traditional fits. Back then it was all very oversized, but
there’s still a big market for that. Me and my brother came on board seven or eight years ago, and four or five
years later we relaunched the brand and hired former Hardy Amies and Aquascutum alumni Joslyn Clarke as our new Head
of Design – that’s when we moved to this factory in Lea Bridge.
“The whole purpose of the relaunch was to freshen up the brand, take all the classic styles and just update them in
terms of fits, trims and materials.” But Azam was conscious not to detract too much from the original design and
style of the garments: “Our brand is known for these iconic styles, so, unequivocally we’ve kept all the classic
elements. As The Rake themselves say, we like to refer to our products as ‘modern classics.'” Azam is keen to point
out that Grenfell still do offer the classic fits, even more so now that the likes of Burberry, Aquascutum and Daks
have stopped making them. “There are still so many high end independent older gentleman’s stores out there in Europe
and the States that still demand the classic styles.” He reveals that he’s even encountered some of the more
contemporary stores requesting them once again, what with the recent revival for oversized garments.
A chance discovery
As well as a handsome collection of archival pieces which hang spotlit adjacent to us, Azam has acquired some great
hard copy ephemera too: “I’ve a pretty cool story actually. We were contacted by a lady on Facebook two years ago”.
It turned out she was from New York and whilst clearing out her Great Grandfather’s attic, had stumbled upon a book
containing all manner of Grenfell branding. “She said, I think you should have the book. So she sent about five
pictures across to show us what was contained within it, and I said to my Dad, we just HAVE to get hold of this book
– it’s like gold dust, it’s like treasure for us. So we initially contacted her to say we’d be happy to part with
$500 in exchange for the whole book - only to be met with a quickfire retort implying that one image alone would
surely be worth $500! So we were thinking, this book is going to cost us the earth. But anyway, we left it a few
days to reflect, thankfully in the meantime she got back in touch and said, look, I’ve been having a rethink, it’s
no use to me and I’m happy to let you have for it $500.”
When the grand annal finally arrived it was every bit the piece of treasure Azam had envisioned, and more. As each
page was opened and subsequently turned, concertinas unfurled, brimming with all manner of archive photography,
brand guidelines, fabric swatches, a whole back catalogue of beautifully woven original Grenfell labels, gummed in
with such precision, shoulder-to-shoulder, with exquisite Mount Rushmore-esque chiselled detailing of the brand’s
iconic mountain insignia - revealing the shadows of each crevasse in unbridled glory. Some even specifically
annotated with red directional arrows, in case it wasn’t clear enough, which read “IMPORTANT: When wet, dry by a
fire.” One can only imagine the commotion such an instruction would cause nowadays with the health and safety
police. You name it, it was contained within this vast treasure-trove-like tome. Everywhere Grenfell cloth had ever
been used was meticulously chronicled – original photographs such as those capturing the highest altitude any tent
had ever been pitched; interspersed by page after page of clippings from newspaper and magazine advertisements.
It turns out the lady’s Great Grandfather was a gentleman named Alfred P Cook, who happened to be the Grenfell
salesman for the United States, and this was the sales armour he would carry with him to tempt prospective
buyers.
Mo breaks from leafing through the catalogue and pulls out a Grenfell Shooter – “one of our most famous jackets –
it’s our best seller on The Rake, they keep selling out. It’s one of Prince Charles favourites too apparently,” he
smiles. “Over the past two years I’ve been collecting archive pieces to build this collection – some bought in
faraway places like Japan, some have turned up on ebay. Whenever I travel abroad I try and squeeze in visits to
vintage stores. I’ve got some really cool pieces actually”. He shows me an Abercrombie trench which the company
crafted back in the 1950s. “No one knows Abercrombie used to be a luxury mountaineering label back in the day –
everyone thinks they’re a teenage kids brand”.
We walk across to another clothes rail, with Mo keen to show me some of the highlights from his collection. First up
is a mountaineering suit, again made for Abercrombie & Fitch, It’s a jacket, gilet and trouser ensemble.” The
parka came from Staten island flea market and eventually found its way on to ebay; the gilet is from Japan, and
these to me look like they’re dead stock trousers – immaculate, never worn. It’s just awesome,” he beams. I concur
and liken the finds to a jigsaw being pieced back together from multiple destinations around the world and being
returned to its rightful
We leaf back through the concertina book one last time – it has a magnet-like effect of drawing you back. Mo says
“there are several phases the brand has been through – but there’s one constant throughout and that’s
mountaineering, hiking and the great outdoors. That’s what the brand has always been about even to this day. We
always refer to this style bible. Joslyn and I are always delving in here - is there a piece we can recreate and
bring it back that would work now? Our brand is all about authenticity though - we won’t just swap a random design
in there, it has to relate to the brand's history at some point. I’ve been through the book hundreds of times, but I
always discover something new every time.”
