“I’m not waving a flag at all. In fact I’m sick of flags, if I’m really honest with you, as they just reek of nationalism,” says Paul Weller. “I’m just sick of everyone waving their flags about. Increasingly I only think of one world and less about nationality. I’m fed up with flags and borders. That’s how I’m feeling at the moment.”
Weller is talking about the lack of Union Jacks on his first collection for Sunspel, the 160-year-old British clothing company renowned for its polo shirts, T-shirts and boxer shorts. He likes the fact a British factory produces the clothes (he recently visited the company headquarters in Long Eaton), likes the fact it’s a “proper” family-run business, but he’s “not flying any sort of flag for any nation, man. I think the world is too small for any of that nonsense.”
The Woking-bred musical icon has been asked countless times to lend his name to branded products, starting with Jam shoes in the heady days of punk and then made-to-measure suits during the Britpop phenomenon of the 1990s, but Sunspel appealed to him because of the nature of the company, its products and, saliently, its “vibe”. “It’s a quality brand, so it’s as simple as that. Also, I’ve bought their stuff a lot over the years, so in the end it all made sense. I just didn’t want to cover anything with a flag.”
Over the years, flags have been big business for Weller, from the Union Jack jackets he wore in The Jam to the innocent flag-waving during the Modfather and dad rock years, but the banner has too many other connotations these days for him to endorse it. Nevertheless, his Sunspel collection is all the better for it, as it contains a fine selection of polo shirts, cotton twill trousers, lightweight macs, T-shirts and jumpers. With no flag in sight.
Did you work with one of Sunspel’s designers on the collection or did you do it yourself?
I didn’t need a designer. I just kind of put my ideas in. I’ve always got ideas, it’s just whether they’re any good or not, so I put a little selection of ideas in and waited to see if they liked them. I tried to keep it within their means and I didn’t stray too far from what I thought they could do in terms of their capability. Basically I did my funny little drawings and then worked on those and then transferred them to the computer and we worked it out from there. But I was always really involved in all stages of it. I mean, I looked at the fabrics, the samples, everything.
Was it important to have a polo shirt in the collection?
Well, I know they’ve done polo shirts in the past. I just wanted something a little bit different with the collar, so I kind of based it on a Brooks Brothers polo shirt I bought a couple years ago. But I tried to put my spin on it. Also, I wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything they felt they couldn’t handle. There’s only one thing we had to outsource and everything else they made in the factory.
Why is style still so important to you?
I think it’s just something that’s kind of been drilled into me from a very young age, you know, growing up when I did, being too young to be part of the 1960s, as such, but still being old enough to be affected by it and influenced by it. Everything went hand in hand with me, music and style. It was how you looked and what music you listened to and probably, at the time, what football team you supported. All those things, they were all cultural touchstones, so it’s just sort of ingrained in me really. Whatever kind of music you were into reflected in the way you dressed. For me it was that period in the late 1960s, when I was around ten or eleven, that I properly got into it. From there it grew into the whole skinhead thing, which was a massive influence then and still is now.
There is obviously a huge mod influence in the Sunspel collection…
Always, of course. That will always be the way, as they are definitely mod influenced. How could they not be? But I tried to make it broader as well. So, you know, there weren’t any of these fucking targets and all that nonsense. So you wouldn’t have to be a mod to be into these clothes. I can see a lot of people wearing these clothes, regardless of how old they are. I think there’s certain things you can wear at any age, to be honest with you.
I mean, we’ve done two pairs of chino-like trousers that could suit anyone of any age and you wouldn’t look stupid if you were 65 or 70 or whatever. Same if you’re 18 or 20. Generally, I probably wear the same sort of clothes I wore in 1971 or 1972. You know, there might have been a few changes along the way but essentially I’ve always looked very similar.
It’s funny, when I see some of my mates from my estate in Woking. They all kind of dress pretty similar. They all still wear Harringtons and monkey boots or DMs and jeans and they’re my age now and they look fine in it. I think especially with this range, anyone can wear it, any age and any type of person.
How did you feel during the whole Britpop period in the 1990s, when every young band seemed to want to dress like you? Was it flattering? Or annoying or funny?
I don’t know if I even thought about it. I don’t know if I gave those sorts of thing consideration or not, to be honest. I do know there was too much use of the Union Jack. I mean, it’s a great looking flag because the colours are great, and it’s great as a kind of piece of pop art. Red, white and blue are great colours together, but whether we should be using it as fashion, I don’t know. However, I don’t see too many dresses or shirts in a German flag or the Czech Republic colours.
Will there be another Sunspel collection? Will you do more?
Well, it depends if they sell this one, I suppose. They might ask me again. I hope they do, because there’s other things I'd like to do with them. And they’re nice people, you know? They’re nice to work with and there was no fuss and no problems. I don’t like problems.
The Paul Weller for Sunspel collection is out on 16 February. sunspel.com
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