Hard to think it all started on a kitchen table back in 2008 with the design of our first collection for Autumn Winter 2009. A chance meeting on the train with an old friend and we were being represented by our new UK sales agent.
We had decided that if we could get 10 customers in that first season to buy we would make the commitment and go for it. We missed that goal by just one customer but decided to do it anyway! As we were preparing to ship that first collection some months later in August 2009 we received a call from a customer whose order had somehow gotten mislaid which meant we made our target of ten customers, a good omen maybe
Three of those first ten customers are among the best UK retailers, two of which have been with us for this whole journey. What better way to celebrate our tenth anniversary than to create special pieces with those original three: a contemporary pant, for Peggs and Son; a modern take on our, over-shirt for Oi Polloi; a revised version of the knit-work jacket originally ordered by The Bureau, in wool fleece. All pieces are exclusively made, available online and from each of their stores (Wool jacket available at The Bureau Belfast only*).
Fast forward a year to the summer of 2010 and we had gained a US agent and were being stocked in the likes of Stag in Texas and Beams in Japan. By our third season, we were now showing in Paris and our stockists increased to fifty-five including Nitty Gritty in Sweden, End in the UK and many more.
The team has gone from 2 employees and a kitchen table to 36 employees, an office/studio/warehouse, 4 physical bricks and mortar stores, an online shop and more than 225 stockists around the world.
It has been a journey that has allowed us the ability to meet and collaborate with some of the most genuinely amazing people such as John Smedley, Millican, Saucony, Birkenstock, Novesta and Satta to name just a few, and to travel the world providing us with inspiration.
Universal Works was not set up to be a brand; it was set up to be a company that makes clothes. Why do we do what we do? We want to dress the world, stylishly.
We want to thank everybody, our friends, family, stockists and our fantastic team for all of their support, belief, trust and hard work that has helped make this all possible.
Love-peace-soul.
