Rag & Bone, Welcome to Melbourne

words by ben stephens

Let me tell you a tale about two lads who went to school together in England. It’s a classic. With twists and turns a true story of hard work and a huge pay that results in The National singing a song about their brand.

Marcus Wainwright and David Neville, friends from a young age find themselves in New York in the early naughties. In 2005 Marcus’s partner in a men’s jean company, Rag & Bone, leaves and David steps up to fill the spot.

If you take a ruler and strike out the bit where the boys are originally from England, this sounds scarily similar to HBO’s two-season cult classic, How To Make It In America. It’s more like the real life story.

Between them, the boys had no design experience and even today Wainwright just aims make cool shit. That tagline has been something that has been with the brand since the conception in 2001 and seems to have worked.

The brand has grown from men’s jeans, now producing a full line of fashion for both men and women, including footwear and a newly formed fragrance line with eight scents.

Rag & Bone holds a distinctively British take with a modern design throughout their entire range, creating pieces that you rarely want to get out of. Using only local manufacturers from some of New York oldest factories, the R&B team really have crafted a piece of urban design.