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RAV MATHARU WO R D S BY C A L U M G O R D O N P H O T O G R A P H Y BY M AT E U S Z S L E C Z K A

“I was probably due a testimonial match,” laughs Rav Matharu – the visionary behind Clothsurgeon – as he casts his mind back just over a decade to when his obsession with fashion was outweighed by a love for football. A prodigious talent from the age of 11, when Leeds United first offered him a contract with their youth team, Matharu spent the best part of his formative years playing for his boyhood heroes. By the time he had reached his late teens, he was training with stars like Rio Ferdinand and Mark Viduka on a daily basis, as the club challenged domestically and in Europe. From Matharu’s perspective, it was maybe a case of unfortunate timing. The early 2000s heralded an era of success which the club had not experienced since their domination of English football in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. “It was an incredible time; the atmosphere around Thorp Arch (Leeds United’s training complex) was electric.” The success of Leeds, who reached a Champions League semi-final and were second in the English Premier League, made it difficult for Matharu. “I was at a club where you couldn’t break into the reserves because you had internationals, like David Hopkin and Jason Wilcox, playing for the second team. The first team itself was just incredible.” The fortunes of Leeds, though, soon turned; a financial collapse precipitated by years of overspending forced them to sell off all of their best players. Within the space of two years, the club had gone from being among Europe’s elite to fighting relegation. “It was tough to handle,” says Matharu, who left Leeds in search of first team football just prior to the club’s free-fall into crisis. Speaking in his East London studio – a far cry from the glamour of professional football or the dressing rooms of his celebrity clients – the designer agrees that things may have been a blessing in disguise for his career in fashion. Matharu left Leeds just before his 21st birthday and trialled with several clubs, but became increasingly disillusioned with the sport. “I fell out of love with football and got fed up of trialling everywhere – you were constantly getting rejected. I think after that there was about six months of moping around, sulking and thinking ‘what the hell am I going

to do?’” Fortunately, there had always been another passion of Matharu’s aside from The Beautiful Game. “When I was at Leeds, I’d always be drawing on the bus to away games. If we had a long journey, I’d take my sketchpad and draw all kinds of things – trainers, portraits of people, whatever.” His love of drawing and clothing – despite habitual dressing room teasing from his teammates, who would only go and buy the same Evisu jeans two weeks later – would guide him down his path of fashion design. Subsequently, Matharu attended Loughbrough College, where he gained a foundation degree in art, before being accepted to London College of Fashion. “They accepted me straight away, but I only stayed there two weeks because I didn’t realise the expense of living in London and I didn’t have any income.” He was forced to sell his prized sneaker collection to cover living expenses, before moving back to Leeds. Such setbacks throughout Rav’s career have been almost poetic. He now works and owns a house in London’s district of Dalston, along with his wife Parv, who recently quit her job to ease the workload at the Clothsurgeon HQ. Rav, meanwhile, has been working on a host of collaborations, including one with shoe retailer, size?, where he sold sneakers for three years. “I enjoyed it initially, but it wasn’t really where I wanted to be or what I wanted to do. I wasn’t fulfilling my potential,” he admits. His 2013 collaboration with size? underlined how far he’d come. “They wanted me to create a jacket to match some shoes they’d done with Nike. We transformed the shoe into a jacket and it worked really well. Everything kind of went full circle.” After working with size?, Matharu gained a first class BA Honours in Fashion Design and Technology before a twoyear stint at House of Billiam. It was then that he made the decision to take all that he’d learned and go solo. In the short space of time that the brand has been operating, he appears to have garnered a considerable fan base. “I started Clothsurgeon to have full creative control and do things exactly the way I wanted. I continued developing the bespoke concept and gave the opportunity to customers to create whatever they wanted from whatever fabrics they desired.” 113

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Presently, Clothsurgeon releases seasonal collections as well as offering a full bespoke service. On the day I visited the studio, Rav had just finished a host of custom pieces for Tinie Tempah’s UK tour. Aesthetically, Clothsurgeon marries perfectly with the hip-hop landscape of 2014. His application of leathers and luxury fabrics to familiar styles is a look which is commonplace today, but one he feels is often poorly executed. “I believe I paved the way in some aspects of this leather trend.” And while he concedes there was an element of good timing, there were few who were on the same level. “At the time, I think only a handful of brands and I were doing it really well.”

Aside from allowing him to work with some of the biggest and most creative names in music, the bespoke aspect of Clothsurgeon is one that is integral to Matharu’s vision for the brand. It is a service which few offer to the level of specification that he does, but it is a model which will perhaps become increasingly prominent in years to come. “I think men are understanding more about clothing; from fabrics to construction to fit. It’s definitely a good thing,” he muses. “I don’t think there’s anyone who does it the way I do it. You can go to Saville Row and get a bespoke suit made, but I’m offering a service where you can get whatever you want made.”

In just over two years, he has amassed a burgeoning list of rap clientele, including the likes of A$AP Rocky and Kendrick Lamar. While Matharu takes a lot of it in his stride, treating them no differently from a regular customer off the street, there are fleeting moments where he omits a sense of childlike excitement about working with those he admires. This time, however, Rio Ferdinand has been replaced by Nas. “Working with him was incredible. In my eyes he’s one of the best MCs of all time,” beams Matharu. “We were drinking Hennessey in his hotel room at 2 a.m. talking about silks and leathers. It was a bit surreal.”

For now, there are few who have mimicked his business model, but he believes that with progression he can have a serious effect on the industry. “What I want to do will kind of revolutionize the way people shop for clothes,” he says, but remains guarded as to what his actual concept is. “I don’t want to say too much about it right now, but I feel it could be huge.” It’s early days and there seems to be no desire to rush things, only for natural evolution. The current challenge presented to Matharu is to set himself apart from an oversaturated market of

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cheap-looking leather sweatpants and tees. His well-executed, signature aesthetic is one which has been poorly replicated by everyone from small start-ups to major fashion chains. “Leather, suedes and luxury wools will always feature in my collection, even if it is not massively on trend or not,” he says. This next collection, however, is a bit more tailored; it’s almost preppy, but still has that sportswear aspect to it. I don’t want to pigeonhole myself.” Titled “The Cultured Sportsman,” Clothsurgeon’s Spring/ Summer 2014 offering provides a nod to Matharu’s influences. “I like to try tell a story with each collection. This one begins with a talented, educated young athlete who discovers an incredible paisley tapestry fabric in Turkey. From there, he travels the world playing various sports and learning about styles and culture. This influences the silhouettes, fabrics and details throughout the collection.” Sport never seems far from Matharu’s mind – something that is obvious as we sit in his office, being watched over by a life-sized Michael Jordan cardboard cut-out. He loves Jordan – partly because of the sneakers – and almost accepted a football scholarship at the University of North Carolina on the strength of that alone.

Sport seems to be intertwined with every facet of Rav Matharu’s life, from his love of Leeds United to his obsession with vintage American sports product. Yet, he seems to have no regrets about the path that he has chosen, “I never think to myself what could have been. I’m past that stage. I’m happy with where I’m at and thankful for that stage in my life. It taught me a lot of things about discipline, working as a team, and working as an individual. It strengthened my character and built me as a person.” That afternoon he was to begin working on a custom jacket for Drake to wear at his sold-out show in London’s O2 Arena the following night. The same evening, Leeds lost 4-1 away to Bournemouth, amid fresh news that the club was back in financial trouble again. It may pain Rav to see the fortunes of his old employer take another bad turn, while Clothsurgeon is on the ascendency. Yet, his Northern sensibilities still allow him to find a humorous aspect to the situation. “I don’t know if it’s coincidence, but as soon as I left Leeds, everything started to go downhill,” he said with a wry smile on his face.

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