In the early days of , one jacket couldn’t be bought at any price. Now 35 people will get the chance.
The Elephant & Castle institution has reunited with Alpha Industries and artist Chemical X, who designed the club’s original logo, for a limited-edition run of MA-1 bomber jackets. Each one is hand-numbered and signed. They’re launching exclusively at Dover Street Market’s London store during Frieze Week.
The story goes back to 1991. That year, Ministry commissioned Alpha Industries to make MA-1s for its doormen, emblazoned with Chemical X’s crest-and-globe logo. The jackets were never sold to the public. Off the door, though, they became one of the most coveted pieces of the club’s early identity, a status symbol you could only earn, not buy.
“If you were wearing one, you were part of the club,” says Alpha Industries, “and because you couldn’t buy one, people wanted them even more.” Three decades on, the 2026 versions revisit that original design. Each carries bespoke embroidery by Chemical X that draws on the evolution of the Ministry logo. Alpha is keen to stress this isn’t heritage cosplay. “This one stood out because nobody had to invent a story,” the brand says. “Those connections already existed. We just brought them back together.”
sees the pieces as something closer to art objects. “Art doesn’t have to be something you hang on a wall; it can be something you wear,” he says. Ministry Of Sound MD calls the release “a real full-circle moment”, adding that the aim was “not just to look back at our history, but to create something new that becomes part of it.”
The drop lands alongside , a 416-page hardback from Grammy-nominated creative director Simon Moore. It’s published by Rizzoli New York on 20 October and priced at £55. Built from more than two years of research, it charts the club’s first 35 years through unseen photography, flyers, tickets and records. It also gathers first-hand accounts from founders, DJs, dancers, designers and staff, with contributions from Paul Oakenfold, David Morales, Moby, Pete Tong and Honey Dijon.
Moore has also designed a run of T-shirts pulled from the archives of founder Justin Berkmann and former resident CJ Mackintosh. The graphics include: A pre-opening business card bearing the club’s working title. A flyer for a mid-90s three-city Japan tour that took in Tokyo’s Liquid Room. The operating manual for the Urei rotary mixer installed when Ministry first opened
The tees are available online and in store at both Ministry Of Sound and . It all forms part of Ministry Of Sound 35, a year-long anniversary programme. So far it has delivered the biggest overhaul of the main room in the club’s history and a 35-date world tour, including Ministry’s first return to Ibiza in over a decade.
The bomber jackets are available exclusively at Dover Street Market London, priced £275. Full details .