“I cut up Sheffield-born Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker’s Marc Jacobs suit - all for a good cause”

Pulp fan Giles stepped in when he saw a Jarvis Cocker suit donated to Crisis by the musician hadn’t found a buyer.

A Pulp superfan came up with a fantastic idea which made sure to delight fellow fans - all while raising money for charity.

Last November, Sheffield-born Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker donated one of his suits to Pop Up Crisis, with proceeds from the sale of the suit to go towards funding the homeless charity’s work.

Giles, who runs the Instagram account @pulp_acrylicafternoons, describes himself as an avid collector and archivist of Pulp memorabilia but says, “even I draw a line at owning one of Jarvis’ suits because they would never fit me”. He kept an eye on the Crisis website and noticed in March that the Marc Jacobs SS2025 check suit - priced at £250 - was yet to find a buyer.

Giles had the great idea of buying the suit himself, with the intention of cutting it into 300 rectangular pieces to sell individually for £5 each - both raising money for Crisis and giving fans the chance to own a piece of Jarvis Cocker’s suit.

He says the idea was inspired by Pulp’s guitarist Mark Webber who used to run the band’s fan club. In 1993, Webber cut up a pair of Jarvis’ trousers and sent a piece in a numbered envelope to fan club members as a gift. Giles says the pieces are really collectible now - both with Pulp having gained a wider audience, and members having mislaid their piece in the intervening time.

Giles says the demand was “incredible” as he received over a thousand requests for just 300 pieces. He worked into the early hours for several days cutting and packing up the pieces, as well as sorting the payment admin.

When approaching how to best cut up the suit, Giles cut all the seams so he could see the fabric pieces he was dealing with, before making all the cuts - making sure to use as much fabric as possible. He used brown, stamped envelopes to send the pieces in homage to Webber’s original idea.

The suit raised a total of £1,165 for Crisis and Giles says he’s “really heartened by the support”. He added that many people plan to frame their piece, with others getting them for birthday and anniversary presents.

After London, South Yorkshire was the next most popular place that the suit pieces were sent to. Further afield, around 40 pieces were bought by overseas Pulp fans from places like Mexico, Argentina and Germany. Giles has delivered some of the suit pieces in person to Pulp fans at recent concerts.