Douglas Cordeaux

Text by Douglas Cordeaux / Mark Cho / Photo by Mark Cho

 

Fox Brothers is one of the oldest mills in England, seeing its fair share of ups and downs over

the years. Today, it is looking healthier than ever, consistently releasing distinctive yet elegant

collections season after season as well as adding a retail business for all sorts of finished goods

related to Fox. Douglas Cordeaux is the man behind it all. He is an industry veteran and a

standard for great taste. 

- Mark

 

1. Could you give us a brief history of how your career and how you eventually came to own

and manage a mill?

 

I have been involved in the fashion/textile Industry all of my life. Trained as a textile designer

at The Chelsea School of Art, specializing in print.

My first job was a textile screen printer in London, where I discovered I really liked the option

of working for myself. 30 years in the industry working as a freelance print designer, working

as a print designer for Pepe Jeans with the great Nitin Shah, who with his brothers started

the brand, an amazing seven years, with lifetime friendships forge. A year of this period was

spent in New York with the brand; this is where I discovered the love for menswear.

Working at Pepe Jeans in the 80’s was like attending the world’s best design and business

school. Nitin Shah, thank you!

 

With two colleagues from Pepe Jeans, a design studio was set up, offering a complete

service from design to garment production, specializing in sportswear.

 

A further eight years was spent at Pepe Jeans, in various London locations, again an

amazing experience this time with the now owner Carlos Ortega, who is design driven,

which is so important in fashion based brand and ironically often over looked.

 

How I ended up owning a mill. It was at a lunch with Jeremy Hackett, whom I met whilst

working with at Pepe Jeans, who had just purchased the Hackett brand. This lunch was

some seven years ago now and I was fascinated about British manufacturing and

menswear. There was a textile mill that could be turned into a brand. It was Jeremy who

said, go and take a look at Fox Brothers. It was walking through the doors of a British mill

and hearing the sound of looms, the sound of making, was the real turning point in my

career. In textile, it does not get better than the sound of weaving. It was then on to the

phone to my longtime friend and fellow Somerset resident Deborah Meaden, literally two

months later, we were the owners of Fox Brothers. The first year was known as “character

building.”

 

2. As Fox Brothers is the inventor of the flannel, can you explain how it came about?

 

 

Flannel, traditionally a milled cloth, which has always had its origins in military cloth with

blind finishes are functional, as it’s harder to get snapped up in a tunic made of a milled

cloth, we have some very early examples of flannel in our archive book dated 1773, the first

thing that strikes you is colour, from rich warm tones to strong jewel colours. Over the years,

Flannel has become the luxury fabric it is today this is down to the very best raw materials,

how it’s woven and the expertise of the miller’s hands. Fox flannel is woven without

compromise. If it’s not Fox, it’s not flannel.

 

3. Is it possible to characterize British vs Italian cloths? If so, how would you do so? e.g. I often

find myself preferring British cloth for suiting because it tends to have more body and

stiffness, whereas I prefer Italian cloths for jacketing because it's sportier and more lively. 

 

 

When it comes to British cloth versus Italian cloth, I’m a big supporter of both. In fact, a big

supporter of the industry, and those in it. I think that you can’t beat British flannel. It has a

warmth and hand feel that is so authentic and steeped in history, with so many iconic

wearers.

 

4. What are your favourite cloths? Either with Fox or elsewhere

 

 

Personal favorites: A mid-grey “West of England” Fox flannel for suits and for a jacket. I

don’t think you can beat a Harris Tweed. Harris Tweed and Fox Brothers are seen as

brands in their own right, that’s down to heritage and quality. It’s like owning a listed

building.

 

House favorite: Iconic is an overused word, however the Fox Brothers chalk stripe favored

by Sir Winston Churchill is something very special, this clothe is woven exclusively now for

Henry Poole & Co, who originally made the suit for Churchill and has to be one of the most

famous clothes in the world and it's a Fox cloth.

 

 

5. You've owned a series of Land Rover Defenders. What are your favourite aspects of the

car? Any interesting anecdotes related to the Defender?

 

 

I have driven a Land Rover Defender for 10 years, the current one I purchased last year, as

I wanted one last one before LR discontinued the model. It is such a basic car, noisy, not

that comfortable, really not ideal in any city, has the turning circle of a cross channel ferry, I

love it! Mine must be the most photographed Defenders in the industry. It’s part of Fox, with

many customers discovering Fox Brothers after I have picked them up at our local railway

station and driven them to the mill via the wonderful Somerset Countryside.

 

 

6. You also sell at retail a lot of finished goods under Merchant Fox, a business move that is

pioneering among English mills. What was the motivation? What are some of your favourite

products?

 

The Merchant Fox is the retail arm of Fox Brothers and it was launched as a result of seeing

what we could make in the UK as we felt there were a lot of likeminded artisans to discover

and give a platform too via an online retail presence. It is also foes back to the fact that Fox

Brothers is a brand that makes a luxury product, which we felt should be expanded on.

I love seeing how things are made and the craftsman behind these products.

The Oak Bark Leather products are really something and I recommend a visit to J&FJ Baker

in Devon who tan leather in such an incredible way using Oak Bark and Mimosa.

 

7. What exciting new projects do you have upcoming?

 

 

In the next few months we plan to broaden our horizon with TMF and start making and

selling products from around the world. We think it’s important to support artisans globally

weather it’s indigo pocket squares from Japan to trousers made in Naples.

Future projects for Fox Brothers, we plan to expand out cloth merchant business with

exciting new branching plan in the coming years. Lessons from that 1773 archive books

leads us to believe there should be more colour and patterns in menswear again.

We also plan to expand the in house tailoring department at Fox Brothers. It’s a very special

experience to have cloth woven and tailored under one roof.