From defence to design – giving military textiles a new purpose

Ramco UK is one of the UK’s most established names in surplus asset recovery, with 25 years spent turning what other businesses write off into something useful again. When the Ministry of Defence appointed Ramco as its official reseller of surplus textiles, it saw a chance to go further than resale. The result is Operation Upcycle — a national initiative turning thousands of ex-military garments into contemporary fashion, built with a leading UK fashion school, His Majesty’s Prison Service and veterans’ charities including Help for Heroes.

The Challenge

Operation Upcycle needed an identity of its own — distinct from Ramco’s more corporate, industrial branding, but still clearly part of the same trustworthy family. It had three audiences to win over at once: environmentally conscious shoppers and fashion buyers who’d actually pay for the clothes, press and media who’d tell the story, and the universities, charities and retailers Ramco wanted lined up for year two.

The Solution

We built the identity around a single idea: military discipline and fashion editorial in the same frame. Camouflage, comms iconography and utility fabric aren’t dressed up to look like fashion — they’re treated as the source material for it. It’s the same tension that makes the whole initiative work: garments built for one purpose, given a second life with a completely different one.

The palette pairs natural, camo-inspired olive and khaki with electric yellow and electric green accents, lifted from hi-vis workwear and military signal colours — grounded in utility, sharp enough to stop a scroll. Typography combines a clean, modern sans as the workhorse with a mono and a serif that nod to old military kit labels and outdoor equipment. The mark itself is bold and simple, built from military signal iconography, so it reads clearly at logo scale and works stamped straight onto a garment.

We then set the direction for imagery: close-up texture and workshop documentary photography — hands, machines, raw fabric, students and veterans at work — sitting alongside editorial fashion photography of the finished pieces. Same discipline, two audiences, one story.

The Outcome

Operation Upcycle launched as a national initiative bringing Ramco, University of Southampton, Winchester School of Art, HM Prison Service and Help for Heroes under one identity, with operationupcycle.co.uk live as its new home. Since launch, Operation Upcycle has formalised its partnership with Help for Heroes — veterans mentoring students, sharing the stories behind the uniforms they once wore. It gives Ramco a fashion-forward front door a purely industrial brand never could, built to earn press coverage, attract the next wave of university and charity partners, and turn thousands of garments once headed for landfill into clothing people actually want to buy.