In his adolescent years working as a model (featuring in the pages of HERO), tattoo artist Miles Langford used to knock about in his beloved Ksubi jeans – shredded, ripped, stained, customised with doodles, drawings, friend’s names, embellished with safety pins, badges, and anything Langford thought worthy of attaching to his treasured denim. Now, Langford’s world-renowned tattoo studio, The London Social, releases its new collaboration with Ksubi, realising a full circle moment Langford is eternally thankful for.

The collaboration – titled All Cowboys Wear Denim – draws inspiration from Langford’s evergreen inspiration: the American West. A frequent US road tripper, particularly the Southern states, Langford’s Harley Davidson rides across the country translate directly across the collection as rip-and-repair, bleached and faded denim rendered with classic Americana symbols and silhouettes. A Deathrider Cowboy rodeo graphic decorates jackets and jeans, as does a classic bull head tattoo design and white star patches – all echoing in Langford’s signature tattoo style. Marking the collection’s release, we caught up with the London-based artist to discuss his love for country music, US road trips and the moment he saw his Ksubi collab come to fruition.

Alex James Taylor: What’s your relationship with Ksubi and how did the collaboration come about?
Miles Langford: I’ve been wearing Ksubi for the best part of my life. I was doing my castings back in the day in a ripped-up pair of Ksubi’s that I’d drawn all over. I had my ex-girlfriend’s name on them, I’d sewn stuff to them. Hearing the back story of the brand, I loved how it’d evolved, how they were dragging jeans behind trucks and putting bricks in them [to create distress]. It was a ‘fuck you’ attitude in a real positive way, like, “We’re going to do what we think is cool and if people like it, cool.” I’ve always gravitated towards that energy. I’ve always customised my Ksubi’s, using the denim as a canvas, and I’m a massive fan of vintage American denim. We aligned the brands – The London Social and Ksubi – a couple of years ago and it’s just been a natural progression. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind doing all these full-circle moments, and I’m incredibly grateful to have the opportunity.

AJT: When you say you were drawing on the denim, was that before you were a tattoo artist? Were those drawings early versions of your designs?
ML: Yeah, I’ll have photos somewhere of me with shredded jeans that’d been drawn on with Posca pens or safety pins through them. I’ve always had a pair of customised Ksubi’s on for the past ten years or more.

AJT: The collection is highly influenced by the American West and your road trips across the States, can you tell me about those experiences?
ML: Yeah, man. I love it. My love for country music actually developed in a really funny, interesting way. We were driving through the Southern states, we’d started in Florida, gone up to Nashville, down through Alabama, into New Orleans and across to Texas. In Texas, my trusty Harley Davidson, the connection between my phone and the Bluetooth was fucked, so I just hit radio and I never turned it off. For just shy of a year, I’ve only listened to country music. Nothing else gets a look in. I’m a Christian guy, I’ve had my battles with addiction, and I just think country music talks about the lot. I can resonate loads with it and there’s a really positive message. It really encompasses what I believe in and what I’m about. I fell in love with country music. From there, I absorbed myself in the culture more and more. I’ve got the Stetson, the boots, and I love the urban cowboy aesthetic.

AJT: It’s a culture that always seems to be at the fore, throughout eras, whether in music, film, fashion, art. I mean, look at Pharrell’s latest Louis Vuitton collection.
ML: It’s funny, when Ksubi told me I had creative license with this one I landed on the Western stuff and they were like, “Western?” And I was like, “Yeah, trust me.” Then a month later Pharrell dropped his collection and they were like, “Yeah, we love it!” [laughs] It was divine timing, to be fair. To the public, it looks like Pharrell beat me to it but I’ll send you the email thread – it was designed before, I promise! [both laugh]

“I’ve always customised my Ksubi’s, using the denim as a canvas”

AJT: Can you tell me about travelling through Nashville especially and the influence it had on you and the collection?
ML: It’s a phenomenal place. It’s a very up-and-coming city. It’s interesting because it’s a liberal city in a Republican state, so it’s an interesting dynamic in that respect. The food is amazing, Broadway is great fun and there’s some great vintage shopping. It’s a lot of independent musicians, honky tonks, cowgirls, cowboys.

AJT: Who would you love to see wearing the collection?
ML: Listen, I’d probably shed a tear if I saw Chris Stapleton wearing a jacket. Any of the guys like Chris, Tyler Childers, Zach Bryan, Luke Combs, any of those dudes – that’d be mad humbling. But in the same way, I’d also think it was mad cool if one of the hip-hop dudes got involved. I don’t think everyone needs to take everything so literally. Like, I wear Chrome Hearts jeans with cowboy boots. I try and flip things – I’ll wear rodeo jeans and Jordan 4’s, you don’t need to be kept in your box. I’ve always looked at life, my work, collaborations, business as being outside of the box.

AJT: Like you said before, you used to customise Ksubi jeans and now you’ve got your own Ksubi collab – how did it feel seeing the collection for the first time? It must’ve been quite a moment for you.
ML: I try to be very humble about everything and keep my feet on the ground because I’m aware that these are things not everyone gets to do in their life. I’m just eternally grateful. When I do see something land in the flesh like this collection, I really try to pray on it, digest it and appreciate it. I don’t dwell on it though, I share the success with my friends and then I move forwards and onto the next, because that’s the character I am. But it is a very humbling experience when you see a project land with a brand that you’ve been a fan of for many years. It’s hard to explain but I’m just very thankful.

Ksubi x The London Social All Cowboys Wear Denim collection will be available on 2nd March exclusively at the Ksubi London Store at 10 Carnaby Street, London W1F 9PF.