APRONS

Aprons, Canvas Aprons and Classic Aprons

Our brown cotton canvas aprons have become a Labour and Wait classic. We made the original prototypes ourselves, as our staff uniform. Soon customers were wanting to buy them, so we found a factory in the UK and started production. From these humble beginnings, we now supply them worldwide to restaurants and cafes, as well as to craftspeople and artists. It's easy to spot the classic Labour and Wait apron, which is available as a bib apron and pocket apron waist apron.

The design of our aprons is inspired by the traditional shop coats that were once seen in warehouses, ironmongers shops and other industrial and commercial places. Although those original coats haven't been made for many years, we like to think that we're keeping them alive in the design of our aprons. The simple robust style looks good on everyone, and we our aprons are made to last. Our team in both London and Tokyo wear our aprons every day - after all, they were originally created for them. The aprons are perfect for staff uniforms, but also work well for all sorts of other uses.

We make our aprons with functionality in mind. They are made from hard-wearing cotton duck fabric, with brass eyelets and herringbone ties to finish them off. Our standard aprons are made in a rusty brown to follow their original inspiration of traditional shop coats. We have, in the past, partnered with other brands to create them in other colours. These include the dark olive apron we made together with Monocle magazine, which featured ecru tape and gunmetal eyelets. We also teamed up with Blackhorse Lane Ateliers to create a denim apron with copper hardware, as a nod to jeans heritage. The eagle-eyed among you may still spot some of these in circulation.

If you have seen our classic Labour and Wait aprons worn by our staff and want one for yourself, it's easy to choose the style that you like best. We have our bib or waist apron that has a large practical gusseted pocket on the front with a smaller top pocket. Then our ‘pocket’ apron is a shorter version of our classic waist apron with a practical divided pocket. Both are perfect for use at home, in the kitchen, the garden, the shed or for wearing in your workshop if you enjoy a bit of metalwork, woodwork or any other craft. They're also ideal in a work setting, from retail and hospitality or anywhere you need to cover up.

Our aprons are made to last, they’ll only get better looking with age. Both aprons are made from hardwearing 100% brown cotton duck fabric with black herringbone tape and brass eyelets. One size fits all and they are, of course, made in England. These aprons will fade, weather and soften the more you wear them, looking and feeling more comfortable with age, whilst remaining as practical as can be. As we say, our aprons are ‘often imitated, but never equalled.’