Universal Works x Bundobust x Hip Available online now.
Fans of Universal Works will already know that good quality food fuels the design process for UW founder, David Keyte. His personal Instagram account is peppered with posts about his favourite cafes and restaurants in his hometown of Nottingham – and beyond. With this in mind, the ideas behind the latest collaboration with independent Indian street fo and sampled the Bundobust food they were sold! od specialists Bundobust was a no-brainer.
Thanks to a unique friendship with the HIP store in Leeds, Universal Works and Bundobust have come together to create a mini capsule collection and uniforms for the Bundobust team.
Known across the U.K. for modernising Gujarati street food and for championing craft beers, their thriving restaurants in Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool are widely regarded as industry game changers. With critically acclaimed menus, they have become a beacon of successful casual dining across the north of England.
Marko Husak, co-founder of Bundobust said, “We are big fans of Universal Works clobber and attention to detail. HIP first introduced us to Universal Works, and we used to pick up pieces from the London UW store when me and Mayur needed to get togged up for very important business meetings. Bundobust has grown up alongside HIP in Leeds as a small business, it’s exciting to collaborate with friends in a whole new ballpark for Bundobust.
HIP’s brand marketing and design manager, Matt Mercer explained, “In early 2020, we started chatting about doing something together, and working with UW to create a Bundobust staff uniform seemed like an amazing idea to start. We set up a three-way meeting between all parties in Leeds, and once David and the UW team had sampled the Bundobust food they were sold! We have been stocking Universal Works since day one (2009) as a key retail partner. Since then, we’ve had an amazing representation of each of the UW collections – and it has remained in our top 5 brands for sales since the very early days. If we were to condense Hip’s aesthetic into one brand, it would simply be UW!”
Universal Works founder David Keyte remarked about how Bundobust founders Marko and Mayur are, “talented, enlightened, charming and funny. You’d be hard pressed to meet two more thoroughly nice guys! They produce great food, great beer and all with a commitment to great service that is often very hard to find. They do all this with an individual style and proper vision of what they offer and how they want Bundobust to grow. "
The guys at HIP were keen to champion a local success, and they also loved the ideas we were all sharing about the styles; mixing UW with Bundobust street food and craft beer vibes. We’ve produced a mini collection for HIP that includes great UW pieces, with fabrics, prints and embroideries that celebrate Bundobust. The Pants, tees, sweats and fleece jackets are all super wearable. Alongside these, we’ve made pieces for the staff to wear at the Bundobust restaurants.
I’ve been road-testing all the protos and print trials for a while now, and everyone in the team at UW is really loving the pieces. We know the HIP guys are excited by the collaboration and can't wait to get it in store. As for the uniform, we think you’ll want to steal a piece or two from the staff on your next visit to Bundobust in Leeds and Manchester or Liverpool!”
The collaboration is part of the Future Friendship Project initiative, which sees Universal Works connecting with, and working alongside brands and companies that share their authentic vision of Peace, Love and Soul. Choosing to combine forces with other like-minded brands creates real future friendships that exist across countries without borders.
