On Belonging, Making, and the Ties That Shape Him.
On Belonging, Making, and the Ties That Shape Him.
To meet Nicholas Daley is to meet a designer shaped by lineage, craft, and the stories that move through him. Soft-spoken yet certain, he speaks with the kind of clarity that comes from understanding where you come from- and where you hope your work will go. Based in London, his studio sits in the heart of the city, but his creative compass reaches far beyond it. Jamaica, Scotland, the UK, and Tokyo form the foundation of his world—places that continue to guide his choices in pattern, fabric, and the way he builds each piece.
Nicholas studied fashion design at Central Saint Martins, one of London’s most revered art schools. It was there, surrounded by fabrics, and endless inspiration, that he learned how to speak through textiles- how a shape can carry meaning, how a silhouette can hold a story. His first opportunity arrived nearly a decade ago, when International Gallery Beams in Harajuku bought his collection. He remembers it sharply. It was a beginning; Tokyo became one of the cities to appreciate his work- a home away from home he continues to return to with gratitude.
“It’s always been connected somehow,” he says. “Tokyo gave me so many amazing moments, both professionally and personally.”
Music is the backbone of Nicholas’ design language. Long before fashion school, his parents were running a reggae club in the 1970s; spinning reggae, West African records, folk, and whatever else could make the room move. Nicholas grew up in that atmosphere of rhythm, surrounded by people who understood style as something lived, danced in, sweated through. You can see it in his work today: the colors, the layering, the prints, the spirit. Cultural identity is the heartbeat of his brand. With a Jamaican father and Scottish mother, Nicholas has always understood contrast- the way two heritages can collide, complement, contradict, and create. He works through these intersections in fabric: hand-knits, woven textures, deep earthy tones, reggae graphics, patterns pulled from the islands that raised him.
It’s this combination—heritage, music, streetwear admiration, and personal direction that helped him build a global community. His pieces now live in closets across North America, Asia, Japan, and the UK, each garment carrying its own sense of place.
His collaboration with Clarks was a full-circle moment. Clarks is iconic in Jamaican culture; a shoe woven into the soundtrack of dancehall, street fashion, and diaspora identity. To design for the brand felt like honoring a lineage while offering something new.
“Island Ties” — clothing as connection, heritage as compass.
His latest Tokyo collection, **Island Ties**, is a study of connection; three islands that shaped him, three histories that continue to meet in his work: Scotland, Jamaica, and the UK.
Each piece carries a trace of where he’s come from, think hand-knitted garments recalling northern winters, reggae-club T-shirts inspired by the ones his parents once made, colors chosen not just from his design vocabulary but from his lived experience.
The collection reads like a map- every textile a pathway back to the people who raised him, every stitch a reminder of the stories we inherit and carry forward.
Nicholas talks about the future with a grounded excitement. Paris Fashion Week. London Fashion Week. More collaborations. More sound-based projects. More building- but always with a return to the beginning. He loves Tokyo not only for its influence, but for its loyalty. The early stores, the first magazines that styled his pieces, the community that embraced him before the rest of the world did. Coming back feels like a ritual of gratitude. Community sits at the center of his plans. Pop-up shops, gatherings, music events — he sees them as essential spaces, places where the clothes breathe, where stories are exchanged, where cultures meet. Through events and through his own brand, for him, are a way of connecting people — and from that connection, something larger always begins to grow.
In the end, Nicholas Daley is a designer of memory; of heritage, rhythm, and the ties that shape who we become.
His work is a bridge: between generations, between stories, between the worlds we carry within us.
And like the music he grew up on, it moves with a pulse that is unmistakably, undeniably his.
HEAR MORE FROM NICHOLAS DALEY
Nicholas Daley is a London-based menswear designer who launched his label in 2015 after graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2013. His work draws from his Jamaican-Scottish heritage, blending British craftsmanship with music, culture, and identity. Known for thoughtful, culturally grounded design, Daley creates contemporary pieces that explore themes of heritage and self-expression. He has collaborated with brands such as Fred Perry, Adidas, and Mulberry.
Photos by Patrick Carlo Bangit
Edited by Ena Cuizon
