tailoring to table: the world of mise supply
Saffron with Josh Dickinson of The Scrandit, wearing his Mise Supply chef’s jacket.
saffron darby, co-founder of hospitality attire label mise supply, approaches the world of restaurants and design through a lens of ritual and detail. the former toast designer discusses how her love of tailoring, food, and bristol’s creative scene led her to revolutionise hospitality workwear. she shares her journey, the power of clothing as “emotional armour,” and what ‘good taste’ truly means today.
interview by fern merrills
Q: What were the textures, the people, and the places that first captured your eye and shaped your aesthetic?
A: I grew up in a very creative household. My mum had trained as a dressmaker and worked for the costumiers Burmans in London, so I was also introduced to sewing from a young age. She had a book on French fashion designer Paul Poiret with illustrations by Georges Lepape and I was fascinated by the colours and textures. I also grew up knowing the importance of food and how it was rooted in love. I lived next to my grandparents where the kitchen was the hub of the house. As a teenager, my best friend’s dad lived in London and he’d take us to all sorts of amazing places. It’s where I was first introduced to Thai food and authentic Italian. We felt so grown up and soaked up the ambience of a good restaurant, the interior and the service. It was intoxicating.
Q: You spent several formative years at Toast, a brand that has become synonymous with a certain kind of understated British aesthetic. What did that experience teach you about design?
I was already a huge fan of Toast when I landed a job there in 2004. The team was tiny. Alongside the creative director Jamie and the other designer Tamsin, the three of us designed pretty much every aspect of the collection. For anyone who knows the brand, the seasonal catalogue was like a coffee table book, filled with aspirational photographs that transported you to another world - it wasn’t just about the clothes. We would often start the designing process knowing where the shoot would take place and that would spark all sorts of ideas - the colours, cuisine, textiles, landscape, music! All these external factors fed the design process and it really opened my eyes and cemented my aesthetic. I have always gravitated to a clean, utilitarian approach to design and at Toast, I could finally execute that whilst working with the finest fabrics and trims.
Q: After Toast came Brown in Town, a tailoring company, which you run alongside your husband, David. Can you walk us through that journey and how it eventually led you to Mise?
A: David’s retail journey started in Homewares, working his way up through Habitat and then The Conran Shop and that laid the foundation for a lifelong passion for design. Years later, that passion focused on tailoring and the eventual founding of Brown in Town. Fortuitous commissions from friends in the restaurant world set a pattern of dressing Over the years we had often talked about creating more functional pieces for hospitality and working with an industry that we have huge respect for. So the idea for Mise bubbled away in the background for a while and through some well timed conversations, it eventually felt like the natural next step.
Q: Was there a single moment that made pursuing Mise feel undeniable?
A: One of our favourite haunts in our home city of Bristol used to be Bar Buvette, a French bistro and natural wine bar (from the owners of famed Auberge de Chassignolles). When one of their front of house team got engaged, we were tasked with creating the groom’s suit. That groom turned out to be Ben Tonks, Chef Patron at The Seahorse restaurant in Dartmouth. Roll forward a year and a chance weekend in Dartmouth led us to the restaurant itself. We were introduced to Ben’s father, renowned chef and restaurateur Mitch Tonks. A conversation ensued about uniforms and chef’s jackets, and suddenly everything aligned!
Saffron attaching hand embroidered Patch on Richard Hamblin’s (More Wine) chore jacket. Photo by David Darby Minns.
The Mise Supply showcase at TRADE 2026, at Carmen Street Wine Bristol.
Q: Bristol has a vibrant hospitality scene and a reputation for being a hub of creative energy. How does the sensibility of the city influence what you create?
A: The overwhelming feeling living and working in Bristol is that of the city’s innovative spirit; its makers might be fiercely independent and entrepreneurial but they are also collaborative and selflessly supportive of one another. For such a compact city, the diverse food scene reflects its rich cultural heritage - we are blessed by the world-class cooking going on here, which is refreshingly free from the pretension you find elsewhere. We want to reflect this in our design process - with so many other companies offering clothing for hospitality, it is your personality that needs to shine through and we hope to offer something that carries that same spirit - craft without ego, and design with real purpose.
Q: The hospitality world is notoriously intense and demanding. Do you believe the clothes someone wears can truly alter how they feel and perform within those high- pressure environments?
A: Absolutely! How we dress is a form of communication in itself. Our clothes convey messages all the time, not only about how we want to be perceived but also affecting the wearer subconsciously. Clothes can be a form of battledress, an emotional armourthat projects confidence and enables you to navigate stressful situations. If you’ve had the good fortune to wear a bespoke suit, you’ll know that feeling. To be well dressed in hospitality is no less important, it informs the entire dining experience - for the wearerand the guest alike.
Q: One final question: how would you define ‘good taste’ in 2026?
A: I have often had a conflicted relationship with fashion and it has not always sat well with me to be a clothes designer. I realise now that I have always had quite a paired down aesthetic and gravitate to a clean, timeless, utilitarian signature. That is not to say that you can’t have fun within that. The possibilities are endless with inspiring textiles and sumptuous colours. But the overall vision is that of style, practicality and longevity. In the past, I have felt a bit apologetic for not being flamboyant but there can be such beauty in attention to detail. Good taste to me now is authenticity and finding a style that works for you. In an excessive world, the realisation that you only need a few key pieces, thoughtfully designed and well executed, is refreshing... that and being able to mend them!
Saffron Darby is co-founder of Bristol-based hospitality attire label Mise Supply. Formerly a designer at Toast, her work is informed by a love of utility, craftsmanship and thoughtful design, creating garments that sit between uniform, workwear and personal expression. @misesupply
