A good jacket is hard to find

Fi Cotter Craig, a television producer in Britain, was scrolling through Instagram one day when she was struck by a photo. “I saw my friend wearing a jacket that I actually thought I was going to kill her for,” Ms Cotter Craig said. “Instead of killing her, I called her and said, ‘Where did you get that jacket?'”

Chloe Shattock, who lives in Amsterdam and works in marketing for Nike, was jealous of her husband’s new blue job coat and stole it for herself. “The color was so iconic and beautiful,” Ms Shattock said. “Every time you wear it, it softens in some places and fits better.”

Ethan Cannon, a divinity student in St. Louis, was pulling into a restaurant parking lot one rainy evening when he was stopped by the attendant. “He’s standing in the rain, holding up traffic,” Mr. Cannon recalled. “The first thing he said was, ‘Where did you get that jacket?’”

The maker of all three jackets is Paynter Jacket Co., a small British label run by Becky Okell and Huw Thomas, a married couple who approach their business in an unusual way.

Four times a year they announce which garment they will produce next. Their newsletter subscribers have about a week to order it in the sizes and colors they want, and the label only makes so many, in “batches” numbered 1, 2, 3 and so on. Following the call to subscribers, Paynter will offer each batch to the general public in an announced drop, which often sells out in about two minutes.

The ‘drop’ model is common among streetwear brands, who often use it to increase demand. But as Ms Okell, 30, and Mr Thomas, 31, explained on a video call from their London studio, they use drops with the idea of ​​reducing waste.

“It’s a very wasteful industry,” Mr Thomas said. “Okay, how else can we do this? What if we only made what we needed?”

Paynter doesn’t have any of the inventory management problems that plague other fashion brands, Ms. Okell added, because the company doesn’t carry inventory. The label orders enough fabric to make the jackets it has orders for, and no more.

Before Ms. Okell and Mr. Thomas started Paynter in 2019, they spent time in corporate fashion. She worked in the brand department at Nike; he taught marketing and product design Hiut Denim Co., in Wales. In 2018, they attended an industrial workshop in London, where Ms Okell for some reason greeted Mr Thomas, a stranger at the time, with a hug. Within weeks they were inseparable.

Mr. Thomas had long collected vintage work clothes, including a blue jacket from France that had a better fit and softer fabric than the typical work jacket. When the couple started deciphering how the jacket was made, they decided to build a brand around it.

Ms. Okell and Mr. Thomas work within a limited number of styles. Many of the 16 batches released so far are variations on a traditional chore coat, as well as classic denim, gabardine overcoats and field jackets.

They start by selecting fabrics from factories in Italy, Japan and elsewhere. The jackets – and sometimes shirts – that they make from these fabrics are notable for their simplicity. That is, until you notice the attention to detail.

Each limited edition jacket has a hidden label on the inside, designed by a different artist. The jackets are also hand-numbered and the care labels have fun instructions, including: ‘Wake up early. Practice first. Breathe in. Exhale. Have a bowl of Coco Pops.” The jackets are delivered by post with a small gift; Lot No. 16, an Italian wool and cashmere winter coat, included a Tony’s chocolate bar with a custom Paynter wrapper.

Planned releases for 2024 include a waxed barn coat with a corduroy collar, followed by a chore jacket meant to commemorate the company’s five-year anniversary. It “will distill all our knowledge and all our favorite details from every job jacket we’ve ever made,” Mr. Thomas said. The next release, a corduroy work shirt with flap pocket in four colors, is expected to go on sale to the general public on February 10. Newsletter subscribers have early access to ordering as usual.

The fashion writer W. David Marx has a Paynter field jacket in olive green. When asked to describe the jacket’s construction, he wrote in an email: “A focus on fit and silhouette. No bells and whistles or details that will age poorly. The jackets are simply made to make everyone look good.”

Mrs. Cotter Craig, the TV producer, agreed. “I have six or seven Paynter coats and they have never disappointed, not one,” she said.

Mr. Cannon, the divinity student, said he likes to buy new coats, in part to monitor how Ms. Okell and Mr. Thomas improve over time. “I don’t feel like anyone is selling me anything,” he said. “It almost feels like I’m participating in some kind of art project.” Last fall, he flew to London to attend one of the label’s “Paynter at the Pub” events and meet the designers.

Mrs. Okell and Mr. Thomas do almost everything themselves. And their low overhead means they can sell a wool cashmere coat for around $335 – an unheard of price for a luxury good, a category to which their coats arguably belong. The label’s shirts cost about $150.

The couple said they have often heard from friends, customers and industry colleagues that Paynter needs to scale up and double or triple the number of coats.

“Some waiting lists are as high as 3,000 people,” Mr Thomas said. “And you think: we should have made more of that.”

However, he and Mrs. Okell are not concerned about the lost sales.

“When we started Paynter, we both wanted a similar business,” says Ms. Okell. “We were both absolutely adamant that it would be independent. We didn’t want investors. We didn’t want big teams. We wanted to tackle every part of the process ourselves.”

“We make clothes,” Mr. Thomas said. “We don’t make fashion.”