Location

58 Chiltern St, London W1U 7QZ

Details

Monday - Saturday | 11am - 6pm
Sunday | 12 - 5pm

The Workers Club | Website

The Workers Club | Instagram

From a creative spark inspired by a Tate exhibition to a thriving menswear brand on Chiltern Street, The Workers' Club embodies the spirit of quality-driven, independent fashion. In this revealing interview, founders Charlotte and Adam Cameron peel back the layers of their brand's evolution. They discuss the intricacies of product design, the challenges of maintaining integrity in a competitive market, and the art of creating a welcoming retail space. Their story offers a unique glimpse into the realities of building a fashion brand that refuses to compromise on its values.

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‍What is the story behind The Workers' Club? Where did it start?

Charlotte Cameron: It started when we were students. Adam and I weren't even dating yet, but we always talked about how one day we'd own a brand. After we got together, we knew we would definitely do it, but we had quite different careers for about 15 years. We needed to get enough experience and hone our craft until we were in a position to launch our own brand.

The name "The Workers' Club" came from an exhibition we saw at the Tate when we were still students. It was by Rodchenko and featured a space called the Workers' Club. It was a creative space where you would work, and then the desks would flip into a chessboard. It was very cool and constructivist becoming a big inspiration for our retail space.

When we launched the brand, we were already living in Oxfordshire. We rented a gorgeous, great, big barn in the village that served as our creative hub. It was always the two of us at the core, but whenever we needed a graphic designer or print designer, they would come aboard. That's the whole point of The Workers' Club - it's a collaborative group.

It goes back to our slogan on the window: "Made for like-minded souls". It's not just about fellow creatives, but people who appreciate quality, story and craft.

The Workers' Club pulls in different people's skills. It was intentional from the start, but it's also what independents do because we don't have huge budgets. We're all helping each other, and that's still quite important. I like to think it always will be.

It goes back to our slogan on the window: 'Made for like-minded souls.' It's not just about fellow creatives, but people who appreciate quality, story and craft.

How did you develop the branding, like the TWC logo and colours? Did you design it yourself or work with a studio?

C.C: We worked with an incredibly talented graphic designer, Steve Gaull. He actually works in the shop on Sundays because he loves the vibe.

We worked with him for a while on the logo because we didn't want to be all about branding. We didn't want it to be shouty. This was about 10 years ago, and we've gone through different iterations and trends of hype brands with lots of branded goods. But we've always been really clear that we didn't want to be about that.

Steve designed the TWC logo, and it's not a font. He actually created it, and we printed it on a heavy 500 gram card done by a letterpress in East London. Having the most amazing business cards was without a doubt special and important to us, especially as we were launching the brand.

Then there's the artwork by the artist Mike Lemanski. We wanted a motif that summed up who we were. Living in South Oxfordshire, there are red kites everywhere - in the sky, the house, the garden. They're really beautiful and Adam's obsessed with them, so it was an obvious mark for us. We use it subtly, like on the back pocket of our jeans, because we want to celebrate the clothes.

Were there specific themes or concepts you wanted to explore through The Workers' Club? How have those evolved over time?

C.C: We launched the brand with one outerwear piece - the shell jacket, gilet, and bomber that all zipped into the shell. It was a truly modular system. As I said, nothing's changed about the block, components, or where it's made. But off the success of that, we knew we had to launch another outerwear piece.

However, we had already spent six months designing the first one, doing wear samples, and the whole process took a year before it went to market.We put so much into the ultimate jacket that we started looking at the lifestyle angle, since we always wanted to be a lifestyle brand.

One thing we found at that time was that Adam was coming into town a lot on his Brompton bike and the shell jacket was great because it's waterproof, but he was still getting really wet. So we created the Packable Parka from his archive collection. It's longer to cover the legs when cycling, has a membrane fabric that's seam taped and packs into a bag in the back. It's technical with amazing components like the buttons made in Gloucester.

There are loads of touchpoints about it, and it isn't doing what the shell jacket does. So we could stand by it because it's serving a real purpose, looks amazing and is highly technical.

That's quite a functional approach - identifying a problem and creating your solution.

C.C: Definitely functional. If it doesn't have a purpose, we question it. Adam hates detail unless it has a purpose. We're really in it when we design, questioning pockets, sizes and what you'll put in them.

Although my background is more linked to high street, fast fashion and trends, it's definitely nice to get into the mindset of how men dress. So it's just been about the lifestyle - what Adam wants to wear, but also understanding our customer and what he appreciates.

Can you tell us about some of the difficulties you encountered during the development of The Workers' Club, both as a brand and as a retail space?

C.C: The constant challenge for us is budget. We never feel challenged in terms of creative ideas and vision - that's the easy, fun part. But as a true independent brand, budget is always the real problem.

Whether it's a photoshoot, ad campaign, website, or the interior of the store, we don't have the budgets other brands have. Nevertheless, I believe that's when the best results come because you're really pushed to be creative. As long as it's done to a high level, which we expect, you can make things happen.

Manufacturing is the other big challenge - making sure the products are the best they can be, not accepting anything less than what we deem to be the best, pushing back on things, and not taking the easy way out.

You used to be based in Goring. What made you decide to move to London, especially to Chiltern Street?

C.C: We've taken part in the last seven Monocle Christmas markets, except during COVID, and the Monocle collaborations have always been remarkably successful. We knew we shared a customer base because people would come out to the store in Goring after having come to Monocle.

Every year we'd do the market and stay over in London. We'd walk up and down Chiltern Street and dream about one day having a shop there. We considered Soho for its grit and creative energy, but it felt too manic for who we are.

Because it's still essentially just us running things, we wanted the London shop to feel like a natural progression from Goring. Size-wise, it's not much bigger than what we had before, so we knew we could manage it well without losing who we are. If we had gone to Soho, we probably would have got swept up in it and the product would have had to be a bit cheaper. We would have had to compromise.

Not compromising is a fundamental message we wanted to stand for when we started the brand. We both designed for other brands before - Adam more for high-end heritage brands like Dunhill, Daks and Burberry. Even at Dunhill, they couldn't use the high-quality zips we use because they couldn't afford them. So we were determined not to compromise on anything with our own brand. We wanted to make it the best it can be.

It's a bit of a stubborn trait because you don't find many brands doing that as profit comes into play. However, we've been much more about that slower, organic growth so we can control it. As the brand is ours, we're so exposed - if the quality goes away, it would be the worst thing that could happen.

Not compromising is a fundamental message we wanted to stand for when we started the brand.

Can you tell us about the process behind the store concept?

C.C: The previous tenant had a lot of 80s-style black veneer fixtures along the back wall that were really well-made. We had an architect help us envision the space and getting rid of those fixtures was going to cost a fortune, so he suggested putting them on wheels.

As an independent brand, we're not trying to be anti-retail, but we want to be a brand that can flip and pop up in multiple places. We painted the old fixtures, put them on amazing unique wheels that cost a fortune and now they can all move around.

We only had to sand the existing floor, there are a lot of good parts to the store that we were lucky to have. We just had to be creative with everything else.

The first thing we did was the dried flower wall. I found an organic meadow grown in Sweden with cornflowers in it and knew that's what I wanted. It references the countryside but looks clean and stylish. We're the first retail store to use it.

Then we didn't want to cover it up with all the rails, so the architect suggested using theatre tracking so we could move things about and change the layout in the small space. These can go up, down, and left to right on a pulley system.

The wood shelving is from a recycling charity near us, again referencing the countryside. The blue and straw colour palette ties in the cornflowers.

They're all simple components, but they make the space feel unique to us and are fun. We can move things around as needed.

When it comes to visual merchandising, what strategies do you find effective?

C.C: Because it's not a huge space and the collections we put out aren't massive, visual merchandising is quite easy for us. When we're designing, we're already thinking about outfits and looks. Everything goes together, whether it's our Club Classics that are always in stock or a new season's small collection.

The only thing I would say is that when we were in Goring and online, we did a lot more colour. Now in the Chiltern Street, we've calmed it down as we need to adapt to our customers. But it's up to us to find that balance and introduce new colours, like the caramel Teddy Gilet that we nearly sold out of after a couple of months even though customers were unsure at first.

In terms of product development, what were some of the most impactful collaborations, and how did they influence your brand?

C.C: The collaborations that have been great are the ones where we don't have to change who we are. We're quite selective because collaborations have to be right and speak to our customer base.

The Monocle collaborations have been successful because even though we did a unique colour for them, it was essentially our garment. When we've collaborated with other retailers and pushed the product to their specifications, it hasn't really been right for us - not on brand.

There was a reason we didn't do a certain colourway or design detail, but then they would change something to make it theirs and it no longer felt like us.

So going forward, collaborations will be where we're essentially designing it and it's genuinely true to our brand.

What are the key things you look for in a manufacturer you can trust?

C.C: We have to build a friendship and know we can trust them - they become a friend. When you don't have that, the process is not as enjoyable and the product won't be as good.

Adam has long-running relationships with most of our makers. Our jersey maker in Portugal and denim manufacturer in Japan are 15-17 year relationships. Even the mills we work with, he's been using for years and years.

We have to build a friendship and know we can trust them - they become a friend. When you don't have that, the process is not as enjoyable and the product won't be as good.

With your products having such great textures and fabrics, how do you approach conveying that tactility online?

C.C: The biggest thing is photography - it's got to be quite good and true to colour. So often the shade can be off. That's something you learn quickly when starting out.

When selling online, it's important to offer colour and texture, otherwise it looks boring if it's all navy and grey. We always offer rich colours online.

But when you open a physical store, you've got to calm it down, because when guys come in, they want to be able to see themselves wearing it.

So there are similarities between online and in-store, and also quite a lot that's different. But online you want the colour and texture, while in-store it's got to feel really calm and tactile, although not too much.

Videography is another thing we're doing more of now for social media because you can't just have still photographs any more. Things have to move.

We also write detailed product descriptions now because there's a lot to say. Every couple of years we look at cleaning up the site, but we've got to stay true to who we are. We're not going to put a load of AI-generated waffle.

Everything we write speaks to all the things that make up that garment. There's a lot of information, but whenever we've minimized it, we get more customer questions. If a customer has to email us to ask something we haven't included, we're about to lose them because they've had to take that extra time. So we put as much as we can out there without overcrowding it.

You have a journal on your website where you tell the stories behind your suppliers. Is that an important touchpoint?

C.C: It is and, if I'm being honest, we haven't been as good about it lately because we've got this space to run now. There's not enough of us to go around.

But when we were in Goring, customers would come in and say they appreciated the long-form journal articles we'd post on Sunday mornings. They could relax and read about our jeans or buttons over breakfast.

We went to visit our button maker in Gloucester recently and saw how they're made, so we did a piece on that. All of those stories are important. We've got loads more to do - it always feels like we're behind because we have so many more stories to tell. It's just about getting around to it.

What defines a good customer experience for you?

C.C:Firstly, the shop has to smell really nice!

Adam Cameron: We have very different mindsets. I was thinking more about the customers themselves, like the guy who buys 10 pairs of our socks at a time - someone who tries what we do, loves it, and then obsesses over it.

C.C: So they come back and buy lots! But I think those are two different things - my point about the store smelling nice is more about the in-store experience.

It's extremely important to create a good experience through all the touchpoints in the store - talking to everybody who comes in, not judging anyone based on appearance. So many stores, even now, don't treat every customer like that.

We want to be friendly and welcoming. A lot of guys aren't comfortable going into menswear stores, some even have their wives do all their shopping for them. So they come in and have no idea what to do. That definitely opened my eyes. 

For us, it's just about trying to welcome everybody in and be inclusive. We love the clothing and genuinely care about it, but we don't want to take it all too seriously. We want people to feel like they can just wander in, hang out, look at the records.

There will be new things we're offering in the coming months, but we just want to be somewhere that people feel comfortable.

What piece of advice would you give your younger self-starting out in the fashion industry?

C.C: My biggest advice to my younger self would be to enjoy the process more. Since we're an independent brand, the stress is real. I spent the first five years thinking, "This has got to work, we've got to keep it going." We launched on Mr Porter, we're showing twice a year - there's a lot to do and we're still very busy all the time.

I think in our industry, especially in Britain, there's an expectation to fail. We lived and worked in New York for a couple of years and everyone there is so enthusiastic and positive - it's a whole different mindset.

Here we were like "We're doing it, this is terrifying, it's got to be the best it can be." Luckily, Adam and I have each other, so when one of us is worrying, the other can take the wheel.

I know a lot of what I've said has been about the tough financials, but that's the realness of what we do. I don't think it's something many brands talk about.

A.C: I think something I learned fairly early on, even if I wasn't always implementing it, was to stay true to yourself. If you have an opinion, it's better to say what it is, rather than what you think people want to hear.

That applies more when you're working for other people, but it's about standing up for what you believe in and being true to what you think is right. That's not easy to do in fashion.

I would probably tell myself to do more of that. We're established now and we've always had strong self-belief but maybe haven't always fully owned what we believe in and stuck by it. Whether right or wrong, that's what comes to mind.

My biggest advice to my younger self would be to enjoy the process more.

What motivates and inspires you as a creative entrepreneur?

C.C: Working with lovely people and having the products done truly well - that's why we do it. Working with Adam is great, we've both worked with loads of people, and Adam still does consulting, but when you can fully trust each other, it makes all the difference. The brand is an extension of us and our life together.