Jeff Banks

Jeff Banks has been at the forefront of fashion throughout five decades. He was in the vanguard of fashion in the early sixties when it all began. Along with a handful of designers he put British fashion on the map.

Part of the sixties revolution, with his own eponymous label through the seventies, the founder of major retail chains in Britain in the eighties, creating multi-faceted fashion brands in the nineties and enjoying the fruits of his labour in the 21st century across three continents!

Jeff has not only been a working designer, but presented hundreds of TV shows promoting fashion and making it accessible to the public at large. His widely acclaimed Clothes Show for the BBC had a weekly audience of ten million on the United Kingdom and a further 150 million on the world service and is transmitted to 27 countries.

Creating lasting design and value that is accessible to a wide audience. Nothing elitist here. It has always been his belief that good design does not have to be expensive. With clever choice of raw materials and considered engineering it is possible to make aesthetically pleasing and beautiful products that can reach a broad church.

Whether it's designing an item of clothing, or a cup and saucer, his approach is always the same: consider the end user and their life and create a product that they are going to cherish. He doesn't believe in creating products for the sake of it nor produce anything that he wouldn't enjoy using himself or have his family proud to use.

Unlike many modern designers he draws constantly and still considers the drawing board his best tool. Whether freehand illustrating cloths or textiles, or architecturally drawing furniture, lighting or ceramics. He is a designers designer.

He has produced all forms of clothing and footwear across Britain for more than forty five years. He began manufacturing in India in 1969 and has produced clothing in Hong Kong, South Africa, Mauritius and even Australia, his knowledge of clothing and textile design is arguably second to none.

In December 2009 Jeff was recognised in the Queens Birthday Honours list by being made a Commander of the British Empire. The citation was for services to fashion and charitable work. On receiving the news Jeff said "This is something to be shared with all the people I have worked with over the years without whom this wouldn't be possible. A special thanks to all those people who have written in with their recommendations."

Website: www.jeffbanks.co.uk

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