Meet Denzilpatrick, a Sustainable Menswear Start-up Inspired by London’s Kaleidoscopic Culture

April 20, 2021

Image may contain Clothing Apparel Human Person and Fashion

The designer Daniel Gayle has worked in the studios of Jonathan Saunders, Philip Lim, and most recently Kenzo. His longest tour of duty, however, was at Victoria Beckham, where he spent six years. So when word emerged that this formerly radar-evading creative is making the leap to launch his own label, Denzilpatrick, it made sense to check in with his longest-standing employer for her take.

Beckham wrote back in an email: “I remember my time working with Daniel incredibly fondly. He is an all-round lovely person; his talent and passion for fashion shone through—and he always made me laugh! I am so pleased to hear he is launching his own collectsion. He deserves every success that comes his way.”

Gayle’s new label, launching today, is named after the 38-year old designer’s grandfathers, Denzil and Patrick. Both emigrated to London, from Jamaica and Ireland respectively. The diversely woven fabric of Gayle’s own identity acts as a starting point for his wider consideration of London’s kaleidoscopic culture through clothing. The garments themselves have a history too; many are fashioned from pre-existing materials.

Highlight pieces from this first installment include argyle knits assembled ingeniously from recycled cashmere, hand-dyed Irish Aran knits, cool cardigans knit from upcycled polar fleece, a mod-inspired parka in recycled nylon, and some banging rave pants. At a moment where it feels simultaneously wildly brave and potentially inopportune to launch a fresh endeavor, we caught up with Gayle to hear some of the story behind Denzilpatrick.

Luke Leitch: So you’re a South London man, in Peckham. Is that where your grandfathers lived as well?

Daniel Gayle: Well my on my mum’s side they were in Brixton, and my dad’s side they were always in Peckham. Denzil, on my dad’s side, came from Jamaica in 1954 and Patrick came from Ireland with my nan in, I think, 1956. Then my mum ended up going to school in Peckham and met my dad and the rest is history: We’ve been here ever since!

Naming the label after Denzil and Patrick makes it both deeply personal but keeps you out of the authorial firing line, by not using your own name—why have you done it this way?

If I’m completely honest with you, I was really uncomfortable with seeing my name out there! It was quite a nice way to almost detach it from me, even if it is totally about me, my history, and my family. I’m the conduit for these ideas, but it’s not about my ego. It’s about exploring the space and all the things that connect through me. Using this name allows it to be more fantastical from time to time. For example, the first collectsion is this idea of my two granddads meeting in the ’70s and swapping clothes. When we move forward, you can keep building these kinds of fantasy theoretical scenarios that don’t necessarily have to be about me, but which actually come through my essence, if that makes sense.

Did your grandfathers get on with each other?

No they did not! It was quite interesting! They were very different as men. Denzil was a free-flowing, saxophone-playing man, really creative. Patrick on my mum’s side, he was in the Navy, and did very much more kind of formal, rigid kinds of work. But we’re talking London in the 1950s, early 1960s. One was from Ireland, and the other guy was Jamaican, dark-skinned, so they both had to navigate prejudice. From what my dad tells me that was the common ground they found over a pint of Guinness, the thing that connected them.

Your grandfathers are part of the ingredients that make you you: How do work to find the ingredients of the collectsion named after them?

It splits into three parts really. First is the deadstock. Some mills I’ve worked with in Italy through the years have connected with one another to make material available. I think on their part, it was purely because they’re just warehousing all of this stuff that is of no use to them. For smaller designers like myself, we can go around mopping all of these things up. We can get from 50 meters to 5000 meters of certain fabrics and certain colors.

Where we are using what I’d call virgin fabrics, which this season is only jersey and thread, it is sourced from Portugal and it’s certified. It is a virgin fabric, but we are able to trace it back to the farm. Then we also have a recycled and recyclable nylon that I’m working with, from a supplier in Biella.

As we developed the collectsion I realised working like this means we’re not going to be able to produce as much as we otherwise could. I thought that was a good thing, you know, we wanted to keep it small and be honest about the numbers. I think it could even be more interesting to have pieces be exclusive because of this, because people are buying special things. It reminded me of the beginning of Victoria [Beckham’s collectsion] a little bit; at the very beginning, we only made a certain number of dresses and each one had a number inside.

You were with VB from the start?

The very beginning! One thing I’ve taken from that experience is that although it’s a different customer, there is this desire for the limited, especially in specialized items. We’ve got dip dyes and handmade pieces that are going to be in that spirit. We’re not going to make loads, we’re going to keep it very tight. Then there are the other pieces that we can produce more of, and still produce them ethically and well.

In the beginning Victoria was so diligent about making it clear that she acknowledged she was a newcomer who was famous beyond fashion but was a work in progress as a designer. She would talk us through every dress! I did get in touch with her to ask about you and she said only very lovely things, by the way!

That’s very nice of her. Wow! I only ever had good experiences with Victoria. It’s funny, but in a way I think she and I were quite aligned in that she came to it late and I did too: I trained as a classical dancer and started working before really understanding I wanted to pursue fashion. I felt like I was a step behind and realized that I would have to work a lot harder than everybody else to catch up! I think maybe when I interviewed with her there was a connection maybe, because we were in an adjacent headspace.

Well, you’ve caught up now. Congratulations on your new label and good luck!

Thanks!