Studio Lowrie team up with menswear brand Personal Effects on their first collaborative t-shirt

Personal Effects is a London-based contemporary menswear brand that doesn’t believe ‘essentials’ is a reductive term. Taking inspiration from a US army issue bag that recruits used to keep all of their civilian belongings in – referred to as their ‘Personal Effects’ bag – founder James Machin created the brand with a clear approach; beautifully crafted essential garments with longevity at heart. Manufacturing all of their clothing in London, with environmentally-focused suppliers, the brand’s aim is “to create small limited edition runs of beautifully made garments,” Machin tells us. “Most of our favourite clothes are damaged and repaired due to years of wear and tear but we could never throw them away because they’ve become part of our identity, Personal Effects is to recreate that feeling.” Stemming from a collaboration-focused philosophy, Machin approached friend and founder of London-based Studio Lowrie, Mike White, to work on a project together. For Machin, this felt like the right time – noting that “Mike, Harry and the team have been producing some amazing work recently.” The exclusive t-shirt features a poem by Harold Bennett, written as an expression of the collaborative spirit that sits at the heart of the project. This came about as a result of many previous discussions. “We often chatted about how wonderful it is to work together,” Bennett reveals, “and that sort of poetically spiralled.” Soon, the collective would be talking about the innate and beautifully multi-faceted nature of working with others. “The poem discusses that,” he adds, as well as the effects of simply being with others. “Simply, it’s a celebration of people and the love, kindness and support that comes from alongside one another.”