BP: Did Guinness let you have free rein with the uniforms or did they have some requirements that the final pieces needed to have?
RL: It was a really open dialogue, with feedback involving staff and the wider team. We started with practical considerations, looking at the pain points from the current uniforms, and built from there. For me, it was important not to just design something on CAD and hand it over. I wanted the production to hold the same integrity as my own brand. The t-shirts are high quality cotton with a boxy fit, and the workwear incorporates multiple textile processes: garment dyeing, screen printing, laser etching, and enzyme washing. The quality is exactly what I would put into my own collections.
BP: You’ve previously designed the staff uniforms for V&A East, what do you think it is about your aesthetic that lends itself so well to workwear?
RL: I think it is partly the practicality rooted in menswear, and partly that both V&A East and Guinness felt connected to my world. The V&A was close to our studio, and it felt like something meaningful arriving in the neighbourhood. Guinness is such an iconic Irish brand, which aligns naturally with my own grounding and identity. Having the opportunity to design for places with that kind of cultural weight feels very natural to my practice.
BP: I have to ask, which pub in London actually does the best pint of Guinness?
RL: Auld Shillelagh in Stoke Newington. No question.