His eponymous brand has become something of a cult classic in recent years. For Adam, it has always been about celebrating working-class nostalgia and the culture of great British boozers. In an age of overconsumption, where design is getting more detached from everyday life, his work remains grounded in the tactile, the ordinary, and the unmistakably British.
It’s not just boozers that whet the creative whistle of Adam’s work. Rooted in a childhood spent at Welsh car-boot sales, he’s guided by the instinct to make something from nothing. Materials that would otherwise be dismissed as kitsch or mundane – tea towels, lace curtains, your grandma’s doilies – Adam sees as potential.
“It brings me a thrill to share my memories through clothing and then dress people up in these memories.”
Each piece carries a sense of lived history. It’s about storytelling. His garments can recall the smell of the local, the texture of a loved one’s home, or the grit of London’s pavements. Equal parts sentimental and subversive, Jones’s work leans into this tension – unpicking then restitching British ideologies into something wearable.
For this partnership, UNCLE brings Adam’s work back to the streets that shaped it – transforming his handmade, working-class romanticism into a flyposting campaign that celebrates British culture in all its rough-edged glory. We spoke to Adam about nostalgia, pubs, and the process of making something beautiful from what’s been overlooked.
features
10.25 Adam Jones is holding on to yesterday, one beer towel at a time.
TO START, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF AND YOUR PRACTICE TO SOMEONE ENCOUNTERING YOUR WORK FOR THE FIRST TIME?
I am a fashion designer and, importantly, the maker of all my products. Everything is made by me in my studio in South London. Garments are predominantly upcycled from found materials that evoke memories of my upbringing in rural Wales; anything a bit 70s, kitsch, punk and ultimately full of nostalgia for simpler times in Britain, all patchworked together into contemporary looks for today. I love to revive these old materials and make people want to wear them now.
YOU GREW UP IN WALES BEFORE RELOCATING TO LONDON. HOW DID YOUR CHILDHOOD ENVIRONMENT – RURAL, SMALL-TOWN WALES – SHAPE WHAT YOU DO? IS THIS ALSO WHERE IT ALL BEGAN FOR YOU?
My upbringing has entirely shaped what I do today. I didn’t think Wales was cool growing up, and I couldn’t wait to get out and study in Manchester and then get to London, which was the epicentre of fashion for me. Now, my view and experience of Wales is my point of difference, my total inspiration that I was silly to try and deny at the time. I fully embrace where I come from now, and it drives everything I do.
My childhood was very ‘make do and mend’. I pretty much grew up on car boot sales. Buying and selling with my parents, grandparents and friends. I looked forward all week to a Saturday spent on a muddy field rifling through people’s ‘junk’. I took joy, and still do, in the simpler things; appreciating old objects, collecting, making things from things I had found, and this remains my ethos today, so I think it was shaped at a very early age.
WERE THERE EARLY MEMORIES OF MAKING THINGS, DRESSING UP, OR NOTICING FABRICS THAT YOU NOW SEE AS FORMATIVE? WHAT ARE THEY?
Growing up, I was always making things out of nothing. My playing was drawing or making things. I was quite a shy child, so I wasn’t really out playing with other kids. I loved being alone, making things with my hands. My grandma really encouraged my creativity; she is an artist and would sit and draw with me, tell me stories and show me her old clothes. She has always been very stylish, and I loved being around her, dressing up in her old clothes, dressing my cousins up and putting on shows. I guess the fabrics in her home, alongside these clothes, have remained important in my mind. I seek out tablecloths, tea towels or anything that reminds me of her home, and I love the challenge of making things out of them that people will like.
YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK AS ‘IDIOSYNCRATICALLY BRITISH’, REIMAGINING VINTAGE PUB TOWELS, TABLECLOTHS, BLANKETS AND ANYTHING ELSE YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON. WHAT DREW YOU TO WORK WITH THESE ‘UNCONVENTIONAL’ MATERIALS IN THE FIRST PLACE?
It was during university that I found it frustrating and uninspiring to go to fabric shops. Everyone would pick similar materials, and I just wasn’t excited by making beautiful things out of beautiful fabrics; it felt too easy. I have always wanted to be different and sought out other ways of making things, as I did in my childhood, looking for materials that others were overlooking. So, I really lent into my background and my childhood and embraced the way I used to play with fabrics as a kid. I just began collecting things that meant something to me or looked like they could have been in my grandma’s house, or something that I would see in the local pub or find while walking around the countryside. I realised there was so much to draw upon and that I could use to make clothes out of.
HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT SOURCING YOUR MATERIAL? DO YOU GO KNOCKING DOWN PUB DOORS? FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE? CAR-BOOT SALES? HAS THIS PROCESS CHANGED AT ALL SINCE YOU FIRST STARTED?
I used to spend a lot of time at boot sales, markets, etcetera. That was pretty much the whole design process. I then began sourcing on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Etsy, Vinted, which sped up the process and helped me find quantities of these materials. As I get busier, this is pretty much the process now. If I travel, I make sure to hit up the markets and charity shops – and it’s my favourite part of the job. I am trying to make sure I remember how integral the shopping is to the job and not feel guilty for not being at the studio. Research is work, as is fabric shopping.
SPEAKING OF PUBS, WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE LOCALS? ARE YOU CONSTANTLY LOOKING AT TEXTILES WHILE YOU’RE THERE, OR ARE YOU ABLE TO SWITCH OFF?
I love pubs. I would say the top three are Blue Posts on Berwick St, Coach & Horses, which is also in Soho, and The Ship in Fitzrovia. You can’t beat a central London pub. The pub is where I get all my ideas. I love going for a pint alone, taking in my surroundings, observing characters. The ideas just come to me.
DOES THE MATERIAL DICTATE THE DESIGN, OR DOES THE DESIGN DICTATE THE MATERIAL?
I say the material dictates the design, totally, but I obviously have a taste in materials that I have honed over the years, so I look out for specific things. But yes, ultimately, the dimensions of the material dictate what I can make out of it. I can never really sit down and sketch, as I used to, and then find the material. The choice of fabric, which is usually vibrant and perhaps garish, does mean I make simpler classic garments, which allows the fabrication to speak for itself.
IS THERE A MATERIAL OR AN OBJECT YOU DREAM OF WORKING WITH ONE DAY?
I am always trying to work with sheepskin, which is the most Welsh of materials. I just feel like I should, so it’s just about trying to fit it into my world and figure out how I could use it.
HAVE YOUR OWN VIEWS ON GENDER NORMS OR MASCULINITY CHANGED SINCE YOU LAUNCHED YOUR BRAND?
100%. It’s always changing and developing; I find it so exciting to see my clothes on different people. It can surprise me, and it definitely excites me. It also informs the way I design and especially casting models. I find it most thrilling to dress traditionally ‘male’ bodies in more feminine shapes or styles, and I like to make ‘female’ bodies more masculine. It’s about challenging the gender norms. Especially in fashion, I think it’s important we do it.
WHAT’S IT LIKE SEEING YOUR WORK PASTED IN THE STREETS?
It is very exciting to see clothes I have made by hand, shot and then shown in the streets. The posters bring fresh eyes to my work, and I love the punk nature of flyposting. I think it fits perfectly with my ethos. I love the physicality of a poster on the street in this increasingly digital age. I can’t wait to see the wear and tear, the torn edges, or have them graffitied over.
WHEN YOU SEE PEOPLE WEARING YOUR PIECES, ESPECIALLY THOSE BUILT FROM SUCH LOCAL MATERIALS, HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL? DOES THE MEANING OF THE MATERIAL CHANGE ONCE IT’S OUT IN THE WORLD?
I feel immense pride seeing people wearing something I have made. The fact that someone would be happy to part with their hard-earned cash to buy one of my pieces, especially today, means the world to me. It’s also fun to see people out wearing something that maybe I have found the material for just around the corner at a market stall, but now it’s wrapped around someone’s body and has a new life to live.
AND FINALLY, WHAT IS NEXT FOR ADAM JONES?
I am looking forward to collaborating with others, hopefully introducing some more categories into my collections. I would love to do denim, shoes and bags, and continue to pay my rent and have a few pints from selling clothes I have made. Nothing makes me happier.
I used to spend a lot of time at boot sales, markets, etcetera. That was pretty much the whole design process. I then began sourcing on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Etsy, Vinted, which sped up the process and helped me find quantities of these materials. As I get busier, this is pretty much the process now. If I travel, I make sure to hit up the markets and charity shops – and it’s my favourite part of the job. I am trying to make sure I remember how integral the shopping is to the job and not feel guilty for not being at the studio. Research is work, as is fabric shopping.
SPEAKING OF PUBS, WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE LOCALS? ARE YOU CONSTANTLY LOOKING AT TEXTILES WHILE YOU’RE THERE, OR ARE YOU ABLE TO SWITCH OFF?
I love pubs. I would say the top three are Blue Posts on Berwick St, Coach & Horses, which is also in Soho, and The Ship in Fitzrovia. You can’t beat a central London pub. The pub is where I get all my ideas. I love going for a pint alone, taking in my surroundings, observing characters. The ideas just come to me.
DOES THE MATERIAL DICTATE THE DESIGN, OR DOES THE DESIGN DICTATE THE MATERIAL?
I say the material dictates the design, totally, but I obviously have a taste in materials that I have honed over the years, so I look out for specific things. But yes, ultimately, the dimensions of the material dictate what I can make out of it. I can never really sit down and sketch, as I used to, and then find the material. The choice of fabric, which is usually vibrant and perhaps garish, does mean I make simpler classic garments, which allows the fabrication to speak for itself.
IS THERE A MATERIAL OR AN OBJECT YOU DREAM OF WORKING WITH ONE DAY?
I am always trying to work with sheepskin, which is the most Welsh of materials. I just feel like I should, so it’s just about trying to fit it into my world and figure out how I could use it.
HAVE YOUR OWN VIEWS ON GENDER NORMS OR MASCULINITY CHANGED SINCE YOU LAUNCHED YOUR BRAND?
100%. It’s always changing and developing; I find it so exciting to see my clothes on different people. It can surprise me, and it definitely excites me. It also informs the way I design and especially casting models. I find it most thrilling to dress traditionally ‘male’ bodies in more feminine shapes or styles, and I like to make ‘female’ bodies more masculine. It’s about challenging the gender norms. Especially in fashion, I think it’s important we do it.
WHAT’S IT LIKE SEEING YOUR WORK PASTED IN THE STREETS?
It is very exciting to see clothes I have made by hand, shot and then shown in the streets. The posters bring fresh eyes to my work, and I love the punk nature of flyposting. I think it fits perfectly with my ethos. I love the physicality of a poster on the street in this increasingly digital age. I can’t wait to see the wear and tear, the torn edges, or have them graffitied over.
WHEN YOU SEE PEOPLE WEARING YOUR PIECES, ESPECIALLY THOSE BUILT FROM SUCH LOCAL MATERIALS, HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL? DOES THE MEANING OF THE MATERIAL CHANGE ONCE IT’S OUT IN THE WORLD?
I feel immense pride seeing people wearing something I have made. The fact that someone would be happy to part with their hard-earned cash to buy one of my pieces, especially today, means the world to me. It’s also fun to see people out wearing something that maybe I have found the material for just around the corner at a market stall, but now it’s wrapped around someone’s body and has a new life to live.
AND FINALLY, WHAT IS NEXT FOR ADAM JONES?
I am looking forward to collaborating with others, hopefully introducing some more categories into my collections. I would love to do denim, shoes and bags, and continue to pay my rent and have a few pints from selling clothes I have made. Nothing makes me happier.
