London, UK What: Gents accessories, Acc. | For: Men | Style: heritage, unique, luxe| Category: Established Brand
Rampley and Co is a London based men’s accessories company creating high end products through innovative design, the best available fabrics and quality craftsmanship.
We feel that by working with exquisite materials such as Harris Tweed or collaborating with partners such as the National Gallery, the British Museum and the V&A we can create men’s fashion accessories that are truly unique while ensuring they tell a story.
Rampley and Co men’s silk pocket squares are printed in a factory with a rich history in Macclesfield, an area famous for English textiles for over 300 years, as we look to blend new ideas with the historical roots of British fashion.
We set up the company out of a desire to find something a little different in the market.
I’ve always worn pocket squares and loved them as an accessory but found it amazing that women’s scarves have had these stunning patterns and designs ever since Hermés in the 1930s and yet nobody was really doing the same with the male equivalent.
Most of the retailers I was trying had the same old paisley, polka dot and flat colour which of course are all wardrobe essentials but I was looking for something a little different.
From the outset we decided we wanted all of our pocket squares to tell a story and have that point of differentiation.
My Death of Major Peirson pocket square, the main square we launched with, our bestseller and my personal favourite, never tire of looking at it or people’s reactions when they see and feel it in person, will hold onto it for life.
This will depend on whether we we’re working with a particular partner to design a collection or whether we’re creating something ourselves.
With The National Gallery for example, we worked closely with their team to choose three paintings from their substantial collection of some of the finest artworks in the world.
The paintings had to first and foremost suit the medium on which they were to be presented and so we slowly identified those we wanted based on colour blends and the ability to work within a square crop.
We then designed unique borders for each square, each inspired by the painting it was chosen to go with and utilising individual details seen in the work such as the detailing on an arch or the colouring of a piece of clothing.
Once designs were finalised we worked with their expert colourist to ensure that the sampling process gave us the closest possible match to the original painting before producing our finished product.
This is a difficult task when printing complicated images with multiple colour blends onto silk but fully worth it when presented at the end with a stunning hand rolled silk pocket square featuring an absolutely stunning piece of art.
As mentioned above, it came from a desire to find something different in the marketplace. I was tired of the same product being produced by so many people and was looking for something unique that suited my taste.
When I was unable to find anything it seemed like a natural step to try and design and source my own product and the idea grew from there.
Having worked in start ups or run my own business for the past 10 years or so I think that whatever I did it would be within the sphere of entrepreneurship.
Once I started running my own business I couldn’t see myself doing anything, regardless of the product or service!
There are two main things I still love about our working day.
The first would be when we receive a shipment of a new pocket square design completely finished and hemmed for the first time and taking it out of the packaging.
The second would be that we still receive a lot of really positive feedback from our clients and customers and receiving an email of thanks from a person that really loves something you’ve created is still a very special moment.