Catching Up with Jem Finer.

28.03.2025

When Jem Finer—musician, composer and UW Coal Drops Yard regular—got in touch to ask if he could commission some clothing for a very special performance, it piqued our interest. Last week, he stopped by our store to try on a few of his favourites from our Spring Summer collection, enjoy the sunshine near King’s Cross and chat over coffee about the upcoming project.

We are dressing Jem and his 36 musicians for a live performance of Longplayer at the Roundhouse in London in April. A 1000 minute event, they will be playing a score taken from Jem’s 1000-year long piece—that began at midnight 1999 and will continue until midnight in 2999 (with the help of computers today, and whatever technology is at hand over the years).

18 of Jem’s musicians and 18 from the Roundhouse will be a part of the event, each playing sections of the piece. Jem told us about the time he had custom tuktuk drivers’ uniforms made in Delhi, India, for the first performance at the Roundhouse, in 2009, only to find they were too woolly and hot to play in. The musicians need their clothing to be simple, easy and breathable, in styles that suit everyone playing. This time we think we have got it right.

We went with two of our bestselling styles, Utility Shirt, and a Low Water Trouser (the full length, dry-land version of our Hi Water style)—both in Navy Broadcloth, a lightweight, poplin-like plain weave cotton fabric and with a subtle contrast stitch.

“I wanted something that had the casual smartness and quality one finds in workwear—one of the things I always liked about Universal Works clothing. Something both utilitarian and stylish.”—Jem Finer.

They probably won’t be worn for quite as long as a thousand years, but we love the idea that these uniforms might be brought back out for future performances. Utility Shirts in the year 3000? We can get on board with that.

Keep an eye out for photos of the uniforms in action.

Longplayer’s permanent home in London is at Trinity Buoy Wharf. There are also public listening posts around the world, and a continuous online audio stream. You can catch Longplayer Live at the Roundhouse, London, 7.20am-midnight (come and go as you like), on 5th April 2025. Find out more about the project and the event here.