The Westminster Menswear Archive (WMA) at the University of Westminster has loaned key garments to Pioneers of the Material World, an exhibition taking place as part of the British Textile Biennial. Marking the 50th anniversary of the 1975 British Mount Everest Southwest Face expedition, the showcase explores how Lancashire’s mill and makers shaped the global story of high-performance outdoor clothing, from Himalayan summits to football terraces and festival fields.
The exhibition opened on 2 October at Towneley Hall, Burnley, and it draws on collections of military, industrial, design and historical garments. The WMA supports a narrative showing how survival garments have been continuously reinterpreted as tools of identity and belonging.
Loans from the Archive included a layered outerwear piece by Burberry from the 1920s, alongside garments by Vollebak, Aquascutum, Berghaus, Nigel Cabourn, Grenfell and Lidl. Together, these works map a century of innovation, from industrial manufacture to cultural expression and design experimentation.
These loans are complemented by a major new donation from Vollebak, a Mars Suit designed for space exploration. Constructed from five layers of aluminised Mylar with Teflon, Kevlar and Nomex for heat resistance and reinforced with ballistic nylon and Cordura, the suit is both durable and insulated. It includes a 3D-printed chest cap providing access to a built-in vomit bag, intended to manage space adaptation syndrome.
Professor Andrew Groves, Director of the WMA, said: “This exhibition demonstrates how garments created to endure the harshest conditions on Earth became part of everyday life and culture. The Archive’s role is to preserve these histories, from Everest expeditions to terrace style, while also documenting how designers such as Vollebak are imagining clothing for environments we haven’t yet reached.”
The exhibition is running every Wednesday to Sunday between 12-4:30pm from 2 October to 25 December.
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