Henry Hunt: Pure British Attire

Monday, 1st February 2010

Looking back over the past year, that has flown by so quickly, I cannot quite believe how far I have come in what seems such a short time.

Last year I was a student studying at one of the top three Fashion Design universities in London, with far off dreams of having my own high end fashion line… and now I am 20 years old, self employed with my own flourishing country clothing brand – Henry Hunt. What possessed me to take such a leap into the deep end and how I have emerged with all this, is beyond me. Thinking about the responsibility of this has always really rather panicked me, which is why I have never actually thought too much about it, instead; I just put my head down and got on with it.

It all started last year when the novelty of London life had worn off and I had no other time to spend than on my hugely demanding and ever pressurising coursework. I would look forward to coming back home for weekends. Having grown up in the deep depths of the country and after realising London life was not all it’s cracked up to be, I started to involve myself in more of a country-based lifestyle. It was from this that I thought about the lack of truly English clothing that was fashionable and desirable. The gap that Jack Wills had once dominated had now reopened. Those of you who are familiar with said brand, will also be aware of the brand’s sudden and massive commercialisation over the past 5 years. With all of their stock now made abroad their ‘Fabulously British’ motto seems to be a touch hypocritical. That aside, our long cherished and once thriving clothing and textile industry has long since retired as a result of such companies. Age old woollen mills and fabric manufacturers have in turn closed down leaving the English clothing industry with barely a leg to stand on. Britain prides itself on the indigenous tweeds and wools so why not make this recognised in the younger generation? From this starting point I began developing the concept of Henry Hunt.

My mum, Jane, decided to come in on the business with me to form a partnership. Together we make a perfect team with a good spread of the knowledge, experience and skills needed to make this kind of business succeed. Working off our dining room table, we have managed to pull the company and the collection together over the past year. We kept our heads down and got on with it, not really thinking what the outcome would be but now, here we are! With a large launch collection, of mens’and womens’ wear featuring limited stock tweed jackets, waistcoats, skirts and gilets, complemented by shirts, polos, hoodies, t-shirts, hats and scarves. Over 70% of our stock is made locally in the South West and we are looking to increase that to over 90% in the next collection. Our tweed is locally woven at Fox’s in Wellington and all our shirting fabric is English. Our website was launched mid-November ’09 so this coming year is full of prospects and anticipation! After the hugely positive feedback we have so far received we are already working on our Spring/Summer collection. We will be exhibiting at various shows around the country, at nationals such as Horse of the Year show, the British Open Show Jumping and Olympia as well as local shows and point to points. Besides these shows our clothes are currently only available to buy online via our website, though plans for our first shop will be underway during this year. So fingers crossed for the future!

For more information about the company please see our website www.henryhunt.co.uk or email info@henryhunt.co.uk

Pheobe Garlic (1995 - 2005)

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