DAGGER
ABOUT THE BRAND
DAGGER takes its name from the ceremonial blade used in pagan rituals – a symbol of beginnings, endings, and transformation. Luke Rainey founded the brand in 2020 after losing his job and being left with a cold dismissal letter wishing him “all the best,”. Those words became fuel. He stamped them on the back of DAGGER’s first design and they’ve been the brands infamous slogan ever since. Raised in a small town in the North of Ireland in the early 2000s, cash was scarce but skate was currency. That spirit still runs through every stitch: clothes made to be worn hard, built from working class grit, inspired by the memories, people and places that make us who we are.
How does your cultural background or heritage play a role in your designs?
My cultural background is at the core of everything I design. I grew up in a small town in the North of Ireland in the early 2000s, where money was tight but skateboarding, music, and subculture gave us identity and escape. That mix of grit and creativity shaped how I see clothing—not as luxury objects, but as lived-in pieces that carry our stories. DAGGER takes that energy and translates it into designs that feel raw, real, and rooted in community. It’s about giving visibility to working-class, queer perspectives that are often tokenised in fashion but rarely told by the people themselves due to financial and social restrictions.