Fred Perry collaborates with Nicholas Daley

Fred Perry is collaborating with emerging British menswear designer Nicholas Daley on a capsule collection for summer 2021, celebrating how they both explore their intertwined connections with music and fashion.

The capsule features two polo shirts, a parka and a bomber jacket inspired by iconic roots reggae musician Peter Tosh, highlighting the synergy between music and martial arts doing the 1970s.

Daley has combined Tosh’s distinctive style with the functionality and fabrications of martial arts clothing whilst incorporating details and shapes from the Fred Perry archive.

The pieces feature a retro colour palette of golden orange, maroon, khaki and anthracite, combined with patches inspired by Tosh’s achievements of working through the belts in Karate, as the musician had a black belt.

The patches, designed by Nepalese illustrator Gaurab Thakali, are sewn onto the ‘Badge’ polo shirt, while an additional knitted strip designed to add more badges has been added to the chest. The other polo shirt is a four-colour stripe cotton piqué with a contrasting coloured collar and cuffs.

Menswear designer Nicholas Daley launches capsule collection with Fred Perry

The collection also features two outerwear pieces, a waxed bomber made in Wolverhampton, England, with ‘Fred Perry’ chain-stitched to the back, as if to signify the wearer’s team also designed by Thakali. Alongside an oversized fishtail parka in waxed cotton featuring contrast panelling, corduroy trims and bespoke dual-branded badges on the sleeves. Both jackets have been constructed from premium waxed cotton sourced from Scotland.

Commenting on the collaboration, Daley, said in a statement: “I feel there’s a good connection between both my brand and Fred Perry which ties in the ethos between celebrating different cultures and music.

“That’s why I’ve produced the collection together with Fred Perry, as I feel we are aligned with our beliefs and brands: both being British fashion labels with a strong ethos on British subculture.”

The Fred Perry x Nicholas Daley collection is priced at 130 pounds for a polo shirt to 400 pounds for the bomber jacket, and 600 pounds for the parka coat.

Fred Perry and Nicholas Daley launch music grant for unsigned British artists

Daley has also teamed up with Fred Perry to offer unsigned British artists the chance to win a music grant, offering one artist or band a recording masterclass with Metropolis Studios.

“Music is the unifying force between our brands and plays a key role in each collaboration collection. That is why during a time when the music industry is under great threat we decided to pull together and offer the music grant to support the next generation of musicians here in the UK,” explains Daley.

Unsigned British artists have until August 5 to apply for the music grant, and then a panel of “diverse and experienced” industry experts selected by Daley will judge the entries.

The judging panel is London-based artist Nilüfer Yanya, award-winning saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia, music editor Tara Joshi, Rhythm Section founder Bradley Zero and radio broadcaster and DJ Gilles Peterson.