Queues and streets, not catwalks, are where the real spectacle happened at this year’s London Fashion Week. Among the usual parade of Balenciaga trainers, Dior saddles, and carefully curated street-style looks, a handful of models were clutching something far less predictable: white paint tins.
The accessory wasn’t a design mishap, but a deliberate stunt by Coat, the UK’s first and only B Corp-certified, Climate-Positive paint brand. Working with Belfast agency Allies Studio, the company launched Carry Your Coat, a live campaign that reimagined its recyclable tins as handbags.
Allies summed it up best, saying: “The most photographed bag at London Fashion Week isn’t even a bag.”
What followed was a whirlwind of real-time creativity. Photographer Panos Damaskinidis shot the models on the streets, then the images were designed, printed, and plastered back across London within hours. The campaign became a feedback loop where the stunt, its documentation, and its media presence blurred into one.
Of course, with a campaign like this, it’s high-risk, high-reward, as a fast-turnaround activation leaves little margin for error. However, the urgency is what gave the work its edge, echoing the frenetic, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pace of fashion week itself.
Behind the playfulness was a deeper message. Each tin is infinitely recyclable, made-to-order with zero waste, and carbon negative. Models wore pre-loved clothing, styled by Positive Retail, to reinforce this message.
Rob Abraham, co-founder of Coat, explained: “A paint tin might not be a bag, but we believe this carries a bigger message.”
That message was carried (quite literally) by stripped-back copy: Carry your COAT. It cast the tins as symbols of a rebellion against overconsumption. In a space where luxury labels fuel demand through scarcity and exclusivity, Coat suggested that sustainability could be just as covetable.
By the time the paste-ups were displayed at bus stops and Tube stations, the project had evolved from playful recontextualisation into a cultural statement. It’s simple, unmissable, and impossible to ignore.
Perhaps the most surprising detail of all is that the Paint Tin Bag is actually available to buy. No waitlists or inflated price tags – just a tinbag, ready to carry – and all proceeds from sales are being donated to Furnishing Futures, the brand’s partner charity.
In the end, Coat’s Fashion Week debut proved that sometimes the sharpest commentaries on style don’t happen on the runway at all. They appear in the spaces around it, where a white tin can upstage the season’s latest drop.
