A Wardrobe of Integrity

The relationship between Toast and Here started with a friendship made in Brooklyn where Laura and I were both working when we met. When we came home it was special for me that she came back to work with Toast, a brand I have loved from its beginnings in a Welsh farmhouse.

For me it has always been an utterly unique lifestyle brand that somehow put life before the selling of a style – a deeper sort of aspiration to bring a consciously aesthetic approach to life complemented by a deeply heartfelt humanity. It’s been wonderful to watch how Laura has evolved and grown the Toast brand and its evolution has in many ways mirrored our own. The Here philosophy of Beautility has always seemed very aligned with Toast and its focus on both Beauty and Utility so we were thrilled when Laura agreed to talk shop with Chloe.

Laura Shippey, Creative Director at Toast, speaks with Chloe Schneider about deep pockets and other essentials of modern life.

C: At a time when many brands invite us into fantasy worlds, Toast feels distinctly rooted in the real, aspirational but grounded. Is that a conscious choice?

L: Toast actually started as a mail-order catalogue for pyjamas, then moved into loungewear – hence the name. There’s always been this sense of warmth, of home as a kind of sanctuary, which is why house and home are so much a part of who we are.

Today we’re a lifestyle brand covering womenswear, menswear and homeware, with an approach to dressing built on comfort and ease. They are real clothes for real people, made with richness and integrity to the fabric and the make. Our clothing isn’t aloof or austere; it’s friendly. You feel it in the tactility, in the ease of wearing. And that's the other part of it: we always have good, deep pockets.

C: I really appreciate the deep pockets, especially in every skirt.

L: They give a kind of easeful attitude in how you move and in what you are able to carry around with you. We always think about how something functions in your life.

C: Clothes that should be lived in, not just looked at.

L: Yes. It’s about people living real lives. Clothes for walking the dog or meeting friends – adaptable pieces that move easily from the humble to something a bit more aspirational.

Workwear is a fundamental part of this. The foundations of our collection always have great denim, made from organic, regeneratively grown cotton, dyed with minimal water in factories that recycle their water. So everything within the make of the garments has integrity: a wardrobe of integrity.

C: Alongside a utilitarian quality, there’s a strong sense of beauty in everything Toast does. What does beauty mean to you in the context of the brand?

L: Beauty lies in the enduringly simple: good materials, honest shapes, ease of movement. I’m always keen to simplify, to really allow the materials to shine, so it's not overly-complex. It’s about asking: what is the intention of a garment? Stripping things back to what’s most important allows its essential characteristics to speak.

For instance, the jumper you’re wearing: the proportions of the neckline and the buttons are a bit larger than usual, and then it’s got this short, rounded silhouette. There’s a resonance to it, maybe it reminds you of a school cardigan, but in beautiful wool and cashmere. There’s something lovely about that familiarity, reinterpreted in a contemporary and desirable way.

We celebrate the intrinsic qualities of our materials and the incredible craftspeople we collaborate with all over the world. We've got some amazing knitwear at the moment made in Uruguay, the wool is hand-spun and hand-dyed, giving it an incredible richness of colour. It’s handmade, functional and deeply beautiful – not just for its colour and design, but for the depth of care and provenance that’s gone into making it.

C: What keeps the work feeling fresh – what still surprises you?

Craft is unpredictable. Colours and print techniques can be affected by the weather. A pattern might blur in the humidity or a dye might take differently. It’s happened that we’ve briefed something to one of our suppliers before and it's come back completely different, but actually, it’s great. Sometimes these mistakes create something exciting and a new way of approaching things.

If another individual is drawing that line or sews that stitch, then that stitch will look different. That’s something to be embraced.

C: I like that you see that in your repair service too. I took in a jumper the other week and was given the option of an invisible or visible repair.

L: And that's an amazing interaction, isn't it? Someone highly skilled mending a piece, invisibly, or with a bright, visible stitch - you have a creative interaction there. It adds another layer of life and resonance to your loved piece.

C: Lastly, as Creative Director, what are the things you really want to hold onto, and what are you excited to add as Toast continues to evolve?

Our ethos won’t change, but the climate is shifting. Seasons are less predictable – later winters, hotter summer. So that necessitates we rethink what our wardrobes need to be and making sure that there’s adaptability to our clothing. We’re also deepening our work in circularity, with more projects around renewal and repurposing. We’ve recently collaborated on projects with Phoebe English and Meta Struycken, who reworked our garments in new and unexpected ways. It’s about exploring and provoking people to rethink garments once they’ve reached the end of their life - to breathe new life into the familiar, and to create beauty that faces the reality of the world we live in.

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As the conversation drew to a close, Laura’s reflections lingered. In a world that often prizes the new over the meaningful, Toast continues to remind us that beauty lives in what lasts, in the integrity of materials, the rhythm of craft, and the quiet joy of living with what we love. Their philosophy, much like Here’s own, finds grace in the balance of beauty and utility, in pieces made to be used, repaired, and cherished. And if you’re looking to share a little of that warmth this season, A Festive Market (Friday 5 - Sunday 7 December 2025 at Kachette) is the perfect place to find something thoughtful for someone special, a piece of everyday beauty to be lived in, and loved for years to come.