Office Merch, Business Casual and More Insight

HBO’s hit drama “Industry” returned on Sunday with its third season, continuing the stories of a group of young British bankers as they navigate their personal and professional lives under the pressure of working for international bank Pierpoint & Co. 

The show’s first two seasons resonated with viewers for their inside look at the high-stakes banking world, especially for its costumes showing the range of office wear from corporate dressing to business casual, and the role of office merchandise. 

“Industry” enlisted costume designer Laura Smith for its third season. Smith continued the narrative and design aesthetic presented in the show’s first two seasons and took it up a notch to showcase office rivalries and class differences through the characters’ outfits.  

“The characters have become more adult, so some people are already hopefully functioning and some are dysfunctioning adults,” Smith said. “When it comes to the grads like Harper and Yasmin, you see how they’re becoming more themselves and how they’re understanding their identity more. In Season Three, you’re seeing where they’re trying to get to, so the journey they’ve been on, and where they want to go has suddenly become more crystalized.”

Smith explained her approach to the costumes started by spending a lot of time in London’s financial district to observe what real-life bankers wore and their day-to-day activities. She also observed the differences in attire among different types of employees to understand the corporate hierarchy.

As “Industry” Season Two was anchored in business casual clothing, Smith wanted to continue this for the third season. This meant focusing heavily on office merch, namely sweaters, T-shirts and gilets that many of the characters are seen wearing both in the office and at home. 

Office merchandise has been central to the show since its inception, and has been part of the many viral fashion moments to come from the show. Most prominently, the bright purple Pierpoint hoodie worn by Ken Leung’s character Eric in the first season made such a big impression on viewers that HBO sells a version on its e-commerce site. 

“It was really important to incorporate the new Pierpoint merchandise because there’s a level of rivalry and class in that,” she said. “The executives or the directors, they have their own type of merchandise, and they have like the apex merchandise, which is the Pierpoint cuff links that the partners have.” 

The branded gilets are also a central component of the show’s costumes, as most Pierpoint employees wear them at the office and in their day-to-day lives. 

“We kept repeating them to build the gilets as a theme because it’s the world of business casual,” Smith said. “People wear them to signify the bank that they work for. It’s a kind of piece of armor within the world of banking and they’re very desirable items. This is one of the things I noticed when I was walking around the city for my research. People wear them at home, at work and it’s a kind of power play, so in terms of class, it’s showing a kind of allegiance, but then also that you work for a financial organization that can afford to do that kind of thing.” 

This focus on office merch was also central to Smith’s strategy in dressing Kit Harington’s character, who is joining the show’s cast for Season Three. Harington plays Sir Henry Muck, the wealthy chief executive officer of green tech energy company Lumi, which is embarking on an IPO.

Despite the character’s privileged upbringing and wealthy status, Muck eschews traditional office wear in favor of more casual and relaxed options to appear like he’s down to earth. He instead opts for Lumi’s T-shirts and other office merchandise, and even banned suit jackets in the office.

“There’s a certain level of untidiness that goes with him that’s quite interesting because he doesn’t care,” Smith said. “He doesn’t need to be the smartest person in the room. He’s got money, he’s got certainty, so he always looks a little bit disheveled in the first two episodes. He’s also a man running a business and he’s very clear about the fact that he’s running this business and has this huge responsibility.”