30 YEARS & COUNTING

Catherine Jobling, Chief Operating Officer

As AllSaints marks 30 years of creating unique clothing for unique people, Chief Operating Officer Catherine Jobling looks back on its successes – and forward to the future of the brand.

It’s a sunny morning in Catherine Jobling’s first-floor office at the AllSaints HQ, in London’s Spitalfields. A rosy pink saturates the walls, softening the brand’s industrial design codes. Outside the office, the AllSaints design team range new collections of accessories along the wall and the PR team wait to chat with the AllSaints COO about points including the popularity of the latest AllSaints Rocks belt, which influencers are loving: ‘That is the most asked-for piece,’ Jobling confirms. The clothes themselves are Jobling’s specialism: she is immersed in the collections, talking about the new season with passion, and picking up her own handbag off her desk (she’s road-testing a future collection) to demonstrate its design signatures.

AllSaints marks its 30th year this 2024, and Jobling can’t wait to celebrate. ‘I’m so excited. We have an event at the Serpentine Gallery, we’re launching our Archive Collection, showing the world our Metamorphosis collection at a runway show, there’s the launch of our fragrance.’ She reflects, ‘I just think, “Oh my god, we made 30 years. I’m just so proud of us.”’

We talked to Jobling about archive pieces, sustainability, and what makes someone say, ‘Oh, they’re wearing AllSaints’.

AllSaints is known for its unique aesthetic. How do you create that look?

‘Our hardware lets you know that it’s AllSaints. There’s the bolt, which actually comes from our industrial fittings that we use in store. We use the bolt a lot… on sunglasses, jewellery, bags. When it comes to clothing, I would say that what we try to infuse is unexpected touches of luxury. Our skirts and dresses are quite asymmetric, sometimes with high splits. Every one of our prints has got some DNA in it: so sometimes it’s got our branding, little hidden secrets. And the prints are all created within the design studio, here – I love our atelier.’

This year, AllSaints celebrates its 30th year. What is it that has helped it endure?

‘It hasn’t been what everyone else is doing… I think that gives us the USP. I don’t think there’s many brands that do what AllSaints does: it’s aesthetic, but with an edge. There’s always some sort of punch. The DNA of the brand has elements of what it was in the past but it also has elements of where it’s going in the future. I think AllSaints is a brand that’s very inclusive.’

What was the idea behind the Archive Collection?

‘The idea was a celebration of some of the best pieces of the past, but reinvigorating them in a modern way. For example, there’s the Rock Shirt and Rock Dress, that were based on a bestselling leather shirt from years ago, and we’ve just done it with a modern take, so not as washed, with new hardware, and just a little bit more contemporary in look. Same with some of our dresses, some of our jackets, some of our graphic tees, we’ve just made them with a cleaner aesthetic. And we’ve tweaked the silhouettes so they fit really comfortably, and are more easy to wear these days. I absolutely love the Umbra dress. It’s got some ruching and some leather trim on the sleeve… I think that is a stunning piece.’

How important is sustainability for the brand?

‘I want to use my position to be kinder to the earth. And I want my footprints to be as soft as possible upon the globe. AllSaints is sustainable not because we're using it as a marketing tool but because we want a planet to live on. Over 90% of the collection is from sustainable attributes.’

AllSaints’ sustainability efforts are described as ‘always growing’. So what’s next?

‘My big dream for our brand is for us to become the most recycled brand. I would like over 90% of our collection to be recycled. Because then we can shop and know that we’re actually taking something that would have gone into landfill, and we’re turning it back into a garment. I’m into recycling. Because as we create more and more product, what we should be doing is trying to mop up all the product that is out there, and turn it into a newer, better version of what it was. You can take what is out there and turn it into something amazing.’

What is the future of fashion in your eyes?

‘We should all recycle. When I go vintage shopping, and I buy a jacket or a jumper, and I think, “Oh, it's so scratchy,” we could take that wool, break it down, spin it with something like 5% cashmere (you can use recycled cashmere) and I can spin it into a beautiful garment. It would be better if we had labels and buttons that were easy to remove for recycling purposes, and instead of using labels, we could print on the inside. All these things I'm contemplating.’

And what’s next for AllSaints the brand?

‘I actually think – honestly, I feel this in my DNA – we've only just begun. I think we've got so many amazing things to do. We’ve just launched Repair and Rewear, we're launching rental… sustainability is a very important part. We’re going to be focusing on being very recycled and also making sure that we remain contemporary, constantly pushing our brand forward and filling gaps that we see that we're not fulfilling. I want to make sure that we encourage people, when they do buy something new, they buy something they will wear for a long time, or maybe even rent it or repair it. Looking at longevity makes me really excited. But, you know what, there's no one big idea. I like the concept of marginal gains – everything you do, you do a little bit better. That is a premise that I love.’