Margate artist Timothy Midnight collaborates with AllSaints founder Stuart Trevor on a brand that gives ‘deadstock’ another life, writes Joe Bill

A fortuitous interaction online, that stumbled into a chat, that sleekly matured into an article… I had been chatting to Timothy Midnight (@timothymidnight) on Instagram for a while, liking videos of him playing the drums in a band and sharing posts of an art project that involved painting humanised cats with cigarettes in their mouths and cocktails in their hands. That is until a voice note explaining his plans to unleash his creations upon Margate started a chain of serendipitous events that - for me anyway - led up to this article.

Hailing from middle American “Butt F*ck Idaho”, as it has been labelled, Timothy moved to Margate from London almost three years ago and instantly met a bunch of “cool cats who roll cigarettes and are artists, musicians and actors”, inspiring him to get painting.

From canvas to clothing, his cats have become so recognisable that they were picked up by iconic fashion master, and founder of the AllSaints brand, Stuart Trevor (@stuarttrevorofficial) and woven into an invigorating offshoot of his eponymous brand.

Known for its edgy, contemporary style with signature leather jackets, AllSaints was founded in 1994 by Stuart, who remained at the helm until 2006 before moving on to start Bolongaro Trevor in 2007 and eventually ST. Focused on finding “hidden treasure” in the worlds of vintage, thrift and retro, ST looks to keep clothes in circulation by reimagining them and save ‘dead stock’ from landfill by turning it into ‘living stock’.

“I started working in sustainability and helping young start-ups to have a positive social or environmental impact,” says Stuart. “I met a lot of people that had invested in some of these small start-up businesses. And they all said ‘I used to love AllSaints. But I’ve kind of gone off it, why don’t you do another brand?’. Well, the last thing the world needs is another clothing brand. There’s so much clothing in the world. But the more I got asked, in the end I said ‘What about a clothing company that doesn’t produce any clothes?’.”

A dedication to avoid adding to the billions of garments created every year, ST set out source and repurpose, adding a bit of creative magic in the middle. Enter Timothy.

A regular visitor to Kent’s coastline for the past 30 years, Stuart headed to Thanet for a charity event at The Margate School that involved his dear friend and co-stylist Andy Blake - the proprietor of uber-cool pub The Lantern Inn at Martin near Deal.

“What about a clothing company that doesn’t produce any clothes?”

— Stuart Trevor

“Timothy was playing there and was recommended that we should meet,” says Stuart. “He came to see me when we chatted and I’d seen his work, and in particular I loved the Cats Who Smoke stuff, I thought it was really cool. We hit it off.”

ST was in the middle of launching its new clothing line, which included lots of rescued military wear - some from Stuart’s personal collection - such as flak jackets and bombers even dating back to the 60s and 70s.

“I’ve always loved this military clothing, but because of all the sh*t that’s going on in the world I don’t want anyone to think that we’re glorifying war. We want it to have a message. There’s a lot of serendipity in my life. It’s kind of weird. A young intern who worked for me, her father’s quite a well-known artist - Harland Miller - he paints books and book titles, and he did one called Who Cares Wins.

I wanted to use it as a quote that I can put on the back of this military clothing. And then I saw Cats Who Smoke (@cats.who.smoke) and I just thought, actually, we could do Cats Who Care. Because we’re, you know, cats who care.”

Timothy set about bringing his cats to a new stage, replacing the martini glass in hand to a picture of the globe. It’s fair to say that it did the trick.

“We loved it. And everyone I showed it to loved it,” says Stuart, who is well known for being a stylist to some of the biggest rock bands in the world, from Placebo to Kings of Leon and The Libertines to Depeche Mode. A tale of Roger Daltrey calling out of the blue to style The Who for an undisclosed event (it turned out to be the Super Bowl halftime show in 2010) really underlined the types of people relying on Stuart to make them look cool.

“I never think of myself as that, I’ve just never, ever thought of All Saints as cool… I’ve just tried my hardest to create something that’s a bit interesting. And it’s kind of the same with this.”

The response to a short-notice launch night for the Cats line saw some 800 people show up in support.

“We were completely blown away. I was kind of walking around like a horse with blinkers on because there were so many people all raving about the new collections.”

Of course, the launch is very much part of the zeitgeist, with movement away from fast fashion continuing. Garments including jackets, field shirts, overalls and chinos have all been given Timothy’s Cats makeover, with more items likely.

“People have said to me ‘How are you going to make a business out of this? You’ve got a few jackets, but what if you sell them?’. And actually people don’t realise it, but the American military budget on clothing is about $5 billion a year. There are mountains of military clothing out there.”

But with each piece being unique, bespoke painted by Timothy, there is a special and exclusive feel to the brand - while also saving unwanted garments from landfill or the furnace.

“It’s very inspirational,” says Timothy. “For me, I have to be inspired. I can’t just paint for somebody or even play drums for a band that I don’t like, that I don’t tap my foot to, so it’s very cool that he throws bags of clothes my way and he goes ‘You got to do something’. I have become more creative. Stuart’s constantly pushing the envelope, so I’m constantly thinking up new ideas for the logo. Each piece is different, each garment has its own personality.”

The collection will be available online, as well as at selected pop-ups, with locations in Kent being likely in 2024.