Sea Design supplies whole crew’s uniforms in just two days

The sale of QM of London, Benetti’s magnificent new 49.9m Golden Bay series yacht, made global headlines when it was bought by its new owner on 30th July.  The high-profile deal was jointly brokered by top agents Camper & Nicholsons and Y.CO, and initiated by Olympic Marine.

However, these media reports overlooked the significant involvement of a small company in Antibes, France. Sea Design, a supplier of personalised superyacht uniforms which normally employs just four staff, had to design, make and deliver new uniforms for each of QM’s 12 crew.

What’s more, they had to achieve this feat in just two days.

Christine Tréhard, manager of Sea Design’s Antibes-based boutique, told Yachting Pages: “We were able to meet the deadline because we have a big stock of uniforms, including our own designs.”

Sea Design’s uniforms include shirts, trousers, and different shorts and skorts (a uniform design for crewwomen which combines a skirt with a pair of shorts). “We match many of these in colour and fabric, usually in stretch cotton. The stretch in all our shorts, skirts and trousers is important for comfort and fit,” explained Christine.

“QM of London’s Stewardess called Helen [Murphy, managing director of Sea Design] on the Monday saying they would like the uniforms for the weekend.”

All seemed well, and Sea Design started to plan the project accordingly. Then they received another phone call on the Tuesday morning explaining that QM of London’s guests now wanted to board the yacht as early as the coming Friday.  

“This meant that the new uniforms had to be there, delivered in our van from Antibes to Monaco, on the Thursday morning” Christine told Yachting Pages.

In other words, Sea Design now had just two days instead of a working week to fully design, manufacture and deliver the new uniforms for all of QM of London’s 12 crew.  The challenges didn’t end there.

QM of London’s Captain, Craig Martin, had recently recruited an entirely new 12-strong crew, so their clothes and shoe sizes were completely unknown.

Fortunately, Sea Design had a solution: “We left the Stewardess with a variety of uniform sizes on the Tuesday,” said Christine. “After speaking with her on the phone, it was decided that a navy blue and white coloured design would be best for QM of London’s crew.”

From Tuesday onwards, Sea Design’s small team spent most of the two days hand embroidering the QM of London’s logo onto each individual crew uniform.

“After we delivered the first batch of blue and white uniforms, they decided they wanted grey and white,” said Christine. “Also, when the crew arrived, some pairs of shoes didn’t fit.  Fortunately, we were able to solve these problems.”

Aside from being practical, Sea Design’s uniforms also had to be fashionable: “Crew are younger and trendier than ever and if they feel good in their uniform, they look good too! We always say we provide uniform that is fashionable, but also smart and practical.

“In the end, we delivered all the uniforms to them in two drops, one Thursday morning and one in the afternoon.”

Thanks to Sea Design’s organisation and hard work, QM of London was then free to embark on the Friday with its guests, crew and brand new uniforms all present and correct.

The superyacht is now available for charter in the Mediterranean for various weeks in August and September, organised by Y.CO which is based in Monaco.

For further information visit Sea Design.