P&Co x Ry Akins

You guys know the drill by now, our Carpenter Pants were designed to be lived in. For our latest collaboration on our Chaos Carpenters, we teamed up with South Wales-based painter and surfer Ry Akins, whose creative process and lifestyle embody exactly what these trousers were built for.

Working from his home studio by the coast, Ry brings together his two biggest passions: the ocean and art. His work is an abstract mix of photography, lino cuts, and paint, often layered like old posters on a wall. Inspired by the rugged coastlines he’s surfed and lived near, each piece is a visual memory of moments captured, waves ridden, and stories told through texture.

For this collaboration, Ry reimagined the Chaos Carpenter Pants as a new kind of canvas. He kept the design raw and honest, incorporating line drawings and lino prints that feel at home on both fabric and paper. His minimal yet expressive approach draws from 80s and 90s design, with worn textures and faded tones that look like they've lived a few lifetimes already.

The resulting artwork, aptly named by Ry,  ” Beyond the Tide" is a tribute to the rhythm of coastal life. It captures that in-between state: the silence after a surf, the solitude of the studio, the feeling of carrying the sea with you even after you've returned inland. In creating his design, Ry leaned into the materiality of the garment. “The fabric is tough, and so is paint,” he says. “It’s a perfect combo.” As someone whose clothes naturally become a part of his process, he was drawn to the idea of building something durable, something that collects its own marks, fades, and flaws over time. The Chaos Carpenters, to him, aren’t just for wearing. They’re for working in, living in and eventually, telling a story through.

Whether you're in the studio, chasing the waves, or grabbing coffee by the van, these pants were made to adapt. Ry imagines them paired with a boxy faded black tee, or layered with a long-sleeve under a work shirt: classic and functional, just like the gear he grew up wearing. "Clothing from the 90s was built to last. I still chase that feel.”