Jeff Griffin (designer)
Jeff Griffin is the designer behind the menswear label 'Griffin'.
Background
Born in Wiltshire, England in 1965. Studied for his Foundation in Fashion at Salisbury college, Wiltshire. Graduated from the Univeristy of Derby with a Ba (Hons) in Fashion Design. In 1990 graduated from Central St Martins College of Art and Design with a Merit of Distinction for his Masters of Arts Degree.
Early Career
After graduating Jeff Griffin went out to Milan to work for various Italian design houses, including Valentino and Americanino. Whilst out there he was head hunted to set up the label 'Voyage'. After the launch of the label came the inspiration for Griffin to set up his own brand, Griffin Laundry the prototype for what later became 'Griffin'.
Griffin Laundry
Griffin Laundry was set up upon Griffin's return to London in 1993. Discovering a gap for interesting mensweaer in the market Griffin began designing clothes that were as conceptual as they were functional. His collections were shown in Paris Fashion Week for a number of seasons until the brand decided to take an alternative route to the traditional form of catwalk presentation in the form of exhibitions and static shows.
2001 saw the opening of the first ever Griffin concept store in Portobello road, London. Shortly after in 2003, followed the opening of a second concept store in Tokyo. Both stores were later closed in 2007 when the collection began selling more widely through it's online store.