As we move toward colder seasons, our garments act as a second skin, helping us to stay warm through the long winter months. While wearing thick wool sweaters, we bundle ourselves in the soft detailed stitches made from skilled and practiced hands. In an assignment for luxury sportswear brand Peter Millar, photographer Jackson Ray Petty documents the production process at the artisanal London workshop where their products are made highlighting the craftsmanship and care that go into making each garment.
A year before the assignment, Jackson had been working for the Raleigh-based company as their primary digital technician. However, when their in-house photographer wasn’t able to make this shoot, the team reached out to Jackson to take on the project instead.
I have been working with Peter Millar for about a year now as their go-to digi-tech and since I was already scheduled to go they decided to send me in solo to photograph instead.
Thanks to his time working as a technician, Jackson understood the style and direction of the in-house photographer and considered him a mentor in the industry. This aided him in determining the direction of the shoot and, after speaking with the senior art director, Jackson had a clear idea of how to bring cohesiveness between this assignment and the other content on their website.
I have a close relationship with the creative team and a strong understanding of their brand identity, so I felt confident in my ability to deliver what they needed even while on my own.
The client needed the images for a feature in their catalog, “Needle by Needle” where they highlight the hand-made knitwear fashioned by the skilled craftsmen at London’s Albion Knitting Co.
Some of the machinery requires highly skilled technicians to operate, so the client wanted to do a story on the craft that goes into their knit garments.
Charlotte-based Jackson was eager to travel to North London, where the workshop that produces Peter Millar’s garments is located. Travel restrictions had just been lifted for Americans exiting the country, and he planned on arriving early to acclimate to the time-change and tour the famous city streets. However, his initial flight was canceled and he was forced to take the red-eye, which landed him in London on the morning of the shoot.
I ended up having to take the red-eye flight and began the shoot almost immediately after arriving in London.
Originally the plan was for me to document the production process of a few key products, but they had already completed production on all of the Peter Millar items.
When he arrived at Albion’s industrial facility, Jackson was informed that the garments had already been produced in order to keep up with their high production volume for other clients. This meant that for Jackson to capture the process of making a sweater, the craftsmen would need to halt their actual work to stage the Peter Millar knitwear on their machinery.
Our solution wasn’t optimal for the workers, and at times I could sense some underlying tension when I asked them to repeat what they were doing until I felt like I had it covered.
While this may have been a difficult workaround, the workers at Albion were incredibly accommodating as Jackson moved down the assembly line to feature their processes. He felt the assignment blended the documentation style of photojournalism with macro shots showing the high-quality details of Peter Millar’s products.
I was there to tell a story of how these garments are produced, but I was also trying to capture the garments in an elevated way. It was a challenge to strike a balance between the two styles.
This opportunity was challenging in many unforeseeable ways, yet Jackson met each issue with solutions that worked within the limitations of the shoot. The factory’s location had no wifi, and he wasn’t able to use his international cell service at the time, so communication with the client was difficult while on set.
I fell into a mindset of immediately accepting each new reality and pushing forward to make it the best it could be from there.
Although Jackson wasn’t able to connect with the creative team at Peter Millar in real-time during the shoot, the time he spent previously working with their photographer enabled him to capture the necessary shots. He trusted in his vision and both he and the client were pleased with the intimate portrayal of the work that goes into crafting their garments.
I think the series really captured the craftsmanship of the process perfectly and in a way that connects nicely back to my client.
Photographer: Jackson Ray Petty
VP of Creative: Andrew Osterberg
Senior Art Director: Lauren Plunk
Albion Founder: Chris Murphy
Knitwear Product Developer: Ellie Drane