Written by Menswear Style in Interviews on the 14th February 2023

The Mallinson family name dates back to the early 1900s with many of that time making a living in Yorkshire Mills as 'Cloth Dressers'. A career in textiles was reignited in 2019 by Ryan who created the brand shortly after the birth of his son Edward. Hailing from a working-class estate in the suburbs of Leeds, a gap was soon found in the craft of re-waxing and repairing wax jackets. Beginning with friends and then independent customers, Mallin & Son started servicing high end jackets from Barbour, Belstaff, Burberry and all in-between whilst flying the flag for sustainable fashion, all from a kitchen table. The business soon became an authority on wax jackets for customers and enthusiasts across the globe. Leading manufacturers soon came onboard, working directly with them on behalf of their customer.

The brand's first clothing release was a small run of Great British heritage garments which took inspiration from 1960s boxing gyms, with the Union Jack taking prominence upon a hand printed patch that linked back to the brands history of repairs. In October 2021, the brand released the Coxley Made in England range, named after a local woodland, and manufactured 30 miles over the Pennines in Manchester. Limited and numbered to 50 pieces of each design, the range was taken on by a number of exclusive retailers and sold out before the end of the year. 2022 saw the first seasonal release with Spring/Summer 2022 taking inspiration from the East Yorkshire coast and again was available in an exclusive number of retailers across the UK.

In a recent episode of the MenswearStyle Podcast we interviewed Ryan Mallinson, Founder of Mallin & Son about the founding story of his brand which he stumbled upon by chance. He enjoyed the process of re-waxing his own jacket and also realised lots of people would unnecessarily buy a new jacket once the wax had worn off. Our host Peter Brooker and Ryan talked about working directly with Belstaff, the importance of customer experience, sustainability, and repairing leather jackets. 

“I needed a Barbour jacket waxed and decided to do it myself to save money. I had never done anything like that before and I never knew it was a thing. I did a bit of research and realised there was a real gap in the market for such a service. I started waxing jackets for friends and it soon became apparent to me that people weren't aware that waxing was a legitimate thing. So as an example, you'll have people going into Belstaff and paying £450 for a jacket and the wax will wear off after a year or so, especially if you wear it a lot. It then stops being waterproof, and then people were paying for a new jacket which just isn’t necessary or sustainable. I would wax these jackets for £50 and customers would tell me how their jacket looked as good as new and that I had saved them a lot of money.”

This is a shortened transcribed edit of episode 181 of the MenswearStyle Podcast with Ryan Mallinson, Founder of mallinandson.com. You can listen to the full version on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast player.

We talk about Wax Jacket Repairs and Wax Jacket Reproofing with Ryan Mallinson of Mallin & Son.