This season’s collection pays homage to the peace movement of the 1960s and early 1970s—a time when crowds of Americans questioned their country’s involvement in the Vietnam War, and took to the streets to march for a better world.
Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Concord to Boston march, 1971. Olive green field jackets were juxtaposed with hand-painted peace signs, whilst hair was grown out in opposition to the standard military crew cut. It was an era of Peter Max posters and Phil Ochs protest songs, and as the WW2 baby-boomers came of age and counter-culture broke into the mainstream, there were more people to question conformity than ever before.
Peter Max on the cover of Life Magazine, September 1969. Inspired by this revolutionary time, we’ve created the Peace and Love collection, combining our core classics with some new designs which reference the feeling of the era.
Painters Jacket - olive sateen PEACE print. 
SS21 Melodies Hood.Perhaps the most obvious things to start with here are those daisy embroidered hickory stripe Bib Overalls and Painter Pants. At a time when protest rallies were fraught with fear and tension, Allen Ginsberg devised the concept of ‘flower power’—spreading the message of peace without violence, and replacing rebellion and force with flowers and toys.
Allen Ginsberg (photo: Cyril H. Baker).
SS21 Painter Pants - hickory stripe denim with daisy repeat embroidery.Building on this idea, clothing worn in marches and be-ins was often heavily customised and, along with white doves and Gerald Holtom’s ever-present anti-CND symbol, the humble daisy was a regular sight, stitched onto jeans or scrawled on the back of an M-65 jacket.
'Flower power', Woodstock, 1969.This loose customisation also planted the seed for our PEACE print, which features on our Fatigue Pants, a short-sleeved version of our tried-and-tested CPO Shirt and a new open-collar work-jacket called the Painters Jacket. This print takes inspiration from Love’s classic 1967 album Forever Changes and the unique typeface used on the record’s sleeve.
Love 'Forever Changes' artwork by Bob Pepper, 1967.
Fat Short - olive sateen PEACE print.As well as these patterns and prints, we also referenced the shapes and silhouettes of the era. The Tour Shirt is a laid-back short sleeved summer shirt which takes inspiration from the relaxed cotton shirts of the ‘60s, whilst our core work-wear designs like the Prison Shirt or the Painter Pants fit nicely in the mix.
Tour Shirt - navy batik peace print. OG Painter Pants - raw denim.
Prison Shirt - red hickory stripe denim.
Short Sleeve C.P.O. Shirt - natural cotton sateen.And then there’s the tried and tested military gear like our Fatigue Pants and the Slant Pocket Jungle Jacket. Army surplus gear was often worn for protest rallies for both political and practical reasons - attainable and affordable, the hardy sateen cotton stood out in stark contrast with the chintzy fabrics and shiny suits of the day, instantly setting its wearer apart from consumer society.
Boonie hat - olive sateen. Fat Pants - grey blue sateen.
Tropical Jacket - summer-weight cotton poplin.As you can probably imagine, this was business as usual for us - we’ve been making this stuff since the early ‘70s, and still make it the same way now as we did back then. As we’ve said before, we might make a lot of military-inspired garb, but we stand firmly for peace.
SHOP THE COLLECTION