ACF x FRED PERRY
FRED PERRY
Reinterpreting a British Icon Through Subculture
Across multiple seasons, Art Comes First partnered with Fred Perry to reinterpret the brand's archive through tailoring, music and global subculture — developing capsule collections, product, campaigns and cultural narratives connecting Britain, Jamaica and the wider Rudeboy tradition.
Photography:
Felix AAA
David Pattinson
Camilla Falquez
Savannah Baker
Benji Reid
Archive Photography:
Dave Hendley
OVERVIEW
A Multi-Season Creative Partnership Built Around Style, Music & Subculture.
Between 2016 and 2022, Art Comes First developed a multi-year creative relationship with Fred Perry spanning collaborative collections, product development, campaigns, cultural programming, archive research, music and wider creative consultancy.
Rather than simply placing the ACF identity onto existing product, the partnership used Fred Perry's archive as a starting point for new stories. Classic polos, Harrington jackets, track jackets, knitwear, footwear and accessories were reworked through ACF's language of punk tailoring, Rudeboy style and cultural research.
Music remained a constant thread. Ska, reggae, rocksteady, sound-system culture and the visual language of record sleeves became tools for product design, campaign development and storytelling, allowing familiar Fred Perry icons to be viewed through a different cultural lens.
Selected Highlights
• Multi-season collaboration spanning 2016–2022
• Designed commercially released Fred Perry × Art Comes First capsule collections
• Reinterpreted iconic Fred Perry archive pieces through ACF's punk-tailoring and Rudeboy language
• Developed product across apparel, outerwear, footwear and accessories
• Created cultural narratives connecting British and Jamaican subculture
• Developed record-sleeve-inspired packaging for the SS19 collection
• Shot campaign imagery in Jamaica with members of Rockers International
• Curated an original edit from photographer and Trojan Records A&R Dave Hendley's archive for the 2020 collaboration
• Campaign extended into Fred Perry retail environments and international media
• Designed three exclusive Fred Perry Shirts celebrating 40 years of The Specials
• Led cultural programming, workshops and music curation for Fred Perry's Power of Collaboration Festival partnership
• Extended beyond capsule collaborations into guest design consultation, mainline creative input and cultural activations
CLIENT
Fred Perry
STATUS
Completed Long-Term Creative Partnership
DURATION
2016–2022
INDUSTRY
Fashion · Sportswear · Culture
LOCATION
United Kingdom · Jamaica · International
SERVICES
Creative Direction · Collection Design · Product Development · Cultural Research · Art Direction · Campaign Development · Styling · Casting · Creative Advertising · Packaging Concepts · Brand Storytelling
THE OPPORTUNITY
Bringing New Cultural Stories to an Established British Icon.
Fred Perry already possessed one of fashion's strongest relationships with youth culture.
From Mods and Rudeboys to punk, ska and successive generations of independent music movements, the Laurel Wreath had become more than a sportswear symbol. It had been adopted and reinterpreted by different communities around the world.
The opportunity was therefore not to reinvent Fred Perry.
It was to explore that existing cultural history from a different perspective.
Art Comes First brought its own experience in Savile Row tailoring, global travel, music, African and Caribbean cultural research and subcultural dressing into the Fred Perry archive.
The objective was to create products that felt unmistakably Fred Perry while introducing narratives, references and communities capable of extending the conversation around the brand.
SCOPE OF COLLABORATION
Creative Direction
Building the cultural and visual direction behind each collaboration.
✓ Seasonal concepts
✓ Cultural research
✓ Archive interpretation
✓ Art direction
✓ Styling
✓ Casting
✓ Visual storytelling
✓ Mainline collection consultation
Product Development
Translating cultural research into commercially produced collections.
✓ Fred Perry Shirt
✓ Harrington jackets
✓ Track jackets
✓ Knitwear
✓ Shirting
✓ Footwear
✓ Accessories
✓ Headwear
✓ Collection detailing
Campaign & Content
Developing a visual world around the product.
✓ Campaign direction
✓ Editorial concepts
✓ International photography
✓ Jamaica campaign
✓ Cultural casting
✓ Music-led storytelling
Brand Experience
Extending the collaboration beyond clothing.
✓ Record-sleeve packaging
✓ Graphic concepts
✓ Retail campaign imagery
✓ Fred Perry Subculture editorial
✓ International press storytelling
✓ Cultural programming
✓ Workshops & education
✓ Music curation
✓ DJ & event activations
✓ Guest design consultation
PARTNERSHIP JOURNEY
Fred Perry Archive
A shared appreciation of British style, music and subculture created the foundation of the partnership.
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Punk Tailoring
ACF introduced its tailoring language and approach to customisation across Fred Perry classics.
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Rudeboy Culture
Jamaican music, British-Caribbean style and the visual codes surrounding ska, reggae and rocksteady became recurring areas of exploration.
↓
Product
Cultural research was translated into commercially released clothing, footwear and accessories.
↓
Campaign
Each collection developed its own visual world through photography, styling, casting and location.
↓
Jamaica
The relationship moved directly to the source, creating campaign imagery connected to Kingston's music culture and Rockers International.
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Archive & Storytelling
The later collaboration explored the photographic archive of Dave Hendley, connecting Fred Perry product with the history that had originally inspired it.
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Cultural Programming
The relationship expanded into workshops, music curation, mentorship and community engagement.
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Trusted Creative Partnership
ACF's role extended beyond its own capsules into guest design consultation, Fred Perry's wider collections and cultural activations.
SELECTED COLLABORATIONS
2016 — PUNK TAILORING MEETS FRED PERRY
Context
The 2016 Fred Perry × Art Comes First capsule introduced ACF's design language to some of Fred Perry's most recognisable garments.
Approach
Classic Fred Perry pieces were filtered through Art Comes First's approach to tailoring, proportion, customisation and subcultural dressing.
The collection included interpretations of the Fred Perry Shirt, Harrington jacket and track jacket alongside accessories including ACF's distinctive fedora. A predominantly monochrome palette allowed details, construction and ACF's visual language to drive the collaboration.
ACF Role
Creative Direction · Collection Design · Product Development · Styling · Cultural Direction
Outcome
The capsule established a creative relationship between two practices already connected by an interest in craftsmanship, independence and subculture, creating the foundation for a partnership that would continue across multiple seasons.
2017 — RUDEBOY: TRADITION REIMAGINED
Context
The following season pushed the dialogue further into Rudeboy culture and the relationship between Jamaican street style and contemporary British dressing.
Approach
Modern tailoring was combined with classic Fred Perry details, looking back to the sharp styling associated with 1960s Jamaican Rudeboy culture while treating heritage as material for contemporary design rather than nostalgia.
ACF Role
Creative Direction · Product Design · Cultural Research · Styling · Campaign Concept
Outcome
The second season demonstrated that the collaboration could evolve beyond a one-off capsule, developing a repeatable creative dialogue between Fred Perry's heritage and ACF's cultural research.
2018 — SCOOTER BOY
Context
The collaboration continued by examining another chapter within British street and subcultural style: the Scooter Boy.
Approach
Sportswear silhouettes, customisation and predominantly black product explored the way youth communities appropriate clothing and transform familiar garments into personal uniforms.
Panel construction, sleeve taping and sportswear references were combined with Art Comes First's punk-influenced approach, while members of the wider ACF community were brought into the campaign imagery.
ACF Role
Collection Design · Creative Direction · Styling · Casting · Campaign Development
Outcome
The project expanded the partnership from specific product design into a wider examination of how clothing acquires meaning when adopted by communities.
2019 — JAMAICA: SOUND, STYLE & RECORD CULTURE
Context
For 2019, Art Comes First took the Fred Perry collaboration directly into the visual and musical culture that had informed so much of both brands' shared language.
Jamaica became both inspiration and location.
Approach
ACF looked to ska, reggae and rocksteady, particularly the visual language of record sleeves and sound-system culture.
The iconic M12 Fred Perry Shirt was reinterpreted across new colours and details alongside footwear and braces. The collection went beyond the clothing itself: the polo shirts were presented in specially designed record-sleeve packaging inspired by Jamaican music culture, produced in collaboration with Avery Dennison.
Campaign imagery was created in Jamaica and featured members of Kingston's Rockers International community, connecting the clothing directly to the music, people and environment behind the collection's references.
ACF Role
Creative Direction · Collection Design · Cultural Research · Campaign Concept · Styling · Casting · Packaging Concept · Art Direction
Outcome
The collection became one of the clearest expressions of the partnership: product, music, packaging, photography and location functioning as a single cultural narrative rather than separate marketing components.
The campaign also moved into Fred Perry's physical retail environment, with campaign imagery incorporated into installations across London Embassy stores in 2019.
2019 — THE SPECIALS: 40 YEARS OF SKA
Context
To mark the 40th anniversary of The Specials' landmark self-titled debut album, Fred Perry invited Art Comes First to create a special project celebrating the band's enduring relationship with ska, British youth culture and style.
Approach
Art Comes First designed three exclusive Fred Perry Shirts for the project, drawing on the cultural language shared by Fred Perry, The Specials and the communities shaped by ska, reggae and Two Tone.
ACF also photographed the accompanying cultural story across London and Paris, documenting individuals from different generations whose lives and identities continued to connect with the music and attitude of The Specials. A proportion of proceeds from the shirts supported London's independent 100 Club.
ACF Role
Product Design · Creative Direction · Photography · Casting · Cultural Storytelling
Outcome
The project demonstrated how the wider Fred Perry relationship allowed ACF to work beyond seasonal collaboration — using product, music and portraiture to interpret the legacy of an important British cultural movement for a new generation.
2020 — THE DAVE HENDLEY ARCHIVE
Context
The later chapter of the collaboration turned toward the archive of British photographer, journalist and Trojan Records figure Dave Hendley, whose photographs documented Jamaican and British Rudeboy culture during the late 1970s.
Approach
Rather than treating Hendley's photography simply as a visual moodboard, Art Comes First researched and curated his archive as the cultural foundation for the collection.
Fred Perry archive garments were approached almost as characters from Hendley's photographs, allowing clothing, photography and music history to reconnect through contemporary product.
The resulting collection included reinterpreted polos, knitwear, bowling shirts, denim and Harrington-inspired pieces, maintaining the visual sharpness of Rudeboy dressing while translating it for a new generation.
ACF Role
Cultural Research · Archive Curation · Creative Direction · Collection Design · Product Development · Brand Storytelling
Outcome
The project demonstrated how archival research can become contemporary product without separating the design from the people and histories that created its original cultural meaning.
Fred Perry's own Subculture platform subsequently presented the collaboration through an extended editorial combining Hendley's photography with words from Art Comes First and cultural commentator Harris Elliott.
2021 — THE POWER OF COLLABORATION
Culture, Community & Creative Exchange
Context
By 2021, the relationship between Art Comes First and Fred Perry had expanded beyond product collaboration into cultural programming, education and community.
For The Power of Collaboration Festival at Lambeth Town Hall in Brixton, Fred Perry invited its longstanding collaborators Art Comes First to explore collaboration as a tool for creative exchange and representation.
Approach
Sam Lambert and Shaka Maidoh led The Power of Collaboration, beginning with a conversation around how collaboration could help create space for underrepresented voices within the creative industries.
The session developed into a participatory workshop using customisable prints created by ACF mentees Super Jazz Club and Afro District.
ACF also worked with the festival to curate a 90-minute musical showcase featuring Ego Ella-May, Goya Gumbani and Ash Walker, extending the partnership from fashion into music, mentorship and cultural programming.
ACF Role
Cultural Programming · Workshop Direction · Curation · Mentorship · Music Curation · Community Engagement
Outcome
The project demonstrated the evolution of the Fred Perry relationship: ACF was no longer engaged solely to design product, but increasingly as a cultural partner able to connect the brand with emerging creative communities, music and ideas.
2022 — BEYOND THE COLLABORATION
From Collaborative Partner to Trusted Creative Voice
Context
As the relationship developed, Art Comes First's role with Fred Perry extended beyond the formal ACF × Fred Perry collections.
By this stage, ACF was periodically invited into the wider Fred Perry creative process as guest designers, consulting on and helping oversee aspects of the brand's mainline collections outside of its own collaborative capsules.
Approach
The relationship operated at different scales depending on the project. At times ACF contributed creative perspective around the main collection; at others, Sam and Shaka were brought into Fred Perry activations surrounding the brand's wider collaborations and cultural programs.
Music remained part of that relationship, with ACF also invited to DJ at selected Fred Perry events and activations.
Rather than functioning through a single fixed brief, the partnership had developed into an ongoing exchange across design, culture, music and community.
ACF Role
Guest Creative Direction · Design Consultation · Collection Review · Cultural Consultancy · Event Programming · DJ & Music Direction
Outcome
What began as a product collaboration developed into a long-term creative relationship built on trust.
Fred Perry could bring Art Comes First into different parts of its world, from collaborative collections and archive research to mainline design conversations, cultural programming, workshops and music demonstrating the value of a partnership that evolved far beyond the original capsule.
CULTURE AS CREATIVE STRATEGY
The Fred Perry partnership demonstrates a central principle of Art Comes First's work:
culture is not decoration added after a product has been designed. It can be the foundation from which the product is created.
Across the collaboration, music research informed colour. Record artwork influenced graphic design and packaging. Historical photography informed silhouette and styling. Jamaican and British street culture shaped product details. Campaign locations and casting extended those ideas into real communities.
The result was a collaboration where design, product and cultural storytelling operated as one system.
COMMERCIAL & BRAND IMPACT
Across multiple seasons, Art Comes First helped Fred Perry reinterpret established archive pieces without disconnecting them from the histories and communities that had given the brand its cultural relevance.
The partnership resulted in commercially released collections distributed through Fred Perry's international retail network and selected stockists, supported by global campaigns, retail installations, editorial storytelling and sustained international press coverage.
Rather than producing a single collaboration moment, the relationship developed across several years, allowing both brands to revisit shared cultural themes from different perspectives and demonstrate how long-term creative partnerships can evolve over time.
INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
The Fred Perry × Art Comes First partnership received sustained international editorial attention from its first capsule onwards, with coverage across British, American, European and Japanese fashion and cultural media.
HYPEBEAST
Fred Perry × Art Comes First — A Multi-Season Collaboration
Hypebeast followed the partnership across several stages, covering the Rudeboy-influenced 2017 collection, the Jamaica and record-culture project in 2019, and the Dave Hendley-inspired archive collaboration in 2020. The repeated coverage documented the evolution of the project from product collaboration into a wider exploration of music, heritage and subculture.
2017 — Fred Perry x Art Comes First Spring/Summer 2017
Hypebeast — 2017 collaboration →
2019 — Fred Perry x Art Comes First / Jamaica
Hypebeast — 2019 collaboration
2020 — Art Comes First Reworks Classic Fred Perry Garments
Hypebeast — 2020 collaboration
CLASH
Fred Perry × Art Comes First
Clash introduced the original 2016 collaboration, highlighting Fred Perry's decision to work with Art Comes First for its ability to connect style and subculture and reinterpret key pieces from the British brand's archive.
Read Original Article →
Clash — Fred Perry x Art Comes First
FRED PERRY SUBCULTURE
Art Comes First × Dave Hendley
Fred Perry's own Subculture platform dedicated an extended editorial to the partnership, combining Dave Hendley's archive photography with commentary from Art Comes First and Harris Elliott.
The feature positioned the project not simply as a product collaboration but as part of the brand's wider documentation of music, style and subcultural history.
Read Original Feature →
Fred Perry Subculture — Art Comes First / Dave Hendley
COMPLEX
Fred Perry's New Collection Takes a Trip to Jamaica With Art Comes First
Complex covered the 2020 collaboration and ACF's reinterpretation of the Fred Perry archive through Dave Hendley's photographs of Jamaican and British Rudeboy culture, highlighting the collection's relationship between classic silhouettes and Caribbean cultural references.
Read Original Article →
Complex — Fred Perry x Art Comes First
MASTERED / EYESCREAM JAPAN
Art Comes First × Fred Perry — A Collaboration Born in London
Japanese publication Mastered documented the original collaboration and its international release, focusing on ACF's reinterpretation of the Fred Perry polo, Harrington and track jacket and demonstrating the project's reach beyond the UK market from its earliest season.
Read Original Article →
Mastered Japan — ACF x Fred Perry
PHILOSOPHY
Fred Perry and Art Comes First shared an understanding that clothing gains meaning through the people who adopt it.
A polo shirt, Harrington jacket or track jacket may begin as product, but over time music scenes and communities can transform those garments into cultural uniforms.
The collaboration explored that process repeatedly, moving backwards through archives and musical history in order to create products capable of moving forward.
LEGACY
What began as a capsule collaboration developed into a multi-season creative partnership connecting British tailoring, sportswear, Jamaican music, photography and global subculture.
Across several years, Art Comes First was able to enter one of Britain's most recognisable fashion archives and reinterpret it without erasing the histories that gave those garments meaning.
From punk tailoring and Scooter Boy culture to Rockers International and the photographic archive of Dave Hendley, each chapter approached Fred Perry through a different cultural lens while maintaining a consistent belief:
heritage remains relevant when it is allowed to evolve.
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