Nigel Cabourn Talks The Army Gym with PORT Magazine

Now that Nigel Cabourn has opened up a new flagship Army Gym in the U.K., the British designer plans to emulate the success he’s had with his six regional boutiques in Japan. His lone London location recently unlocked its doors for a launch party where PORT Magazine was able to catch up with Cabourn to talk about his return to the U.K. and his numerous upcoming collaborations.

Dressed in a khaki green, army-inspired outfit, Cabourn spoke candidly about his own brand and why it didn’t last the first time he set up shop in London. “It’s a combination of storytelling and quality production,” he said. “We used to have a London shop that the architect John Pawson designed for me. It did OK but not so great towards the end. But our style was a lot more commercial at the time. In 2003 we launched a new, limited edition collection all based on the 50th anniversary of Edmund Hillary reaching the top of Mount Everest. That re-launched the brand to what it is today, a niche brand. I decided to base the brand on British heritage, things that really happened.”

Cabourn plans to follow his Fall/Winter 2014 collection with a few notable collaborations. Teaming up with brands likes Filson and Fred Perry allow the designer to create non vintage items with historical cues. The forthcoming Fred Perry collaboration actually spawned from a conversation he had with the company, regarding a memorable event. “In 1929, Fred Perry won the table tennis world championship before moving on to tennis. When they phoned me I said I wasn’t interested in doing an outerwear collab, let’s do a ping pong collection instead. And they said yes.”

Check out the entire interview here.