- Walton Goggins returns as the face of Paul Smith for a second straight season, this time for the AW26 "Sometimes, Always, Never" campaign, a follow-up to their well-received holiday 2025 "Night to Day" collaboration.
- The campaign spans four short films directed by Cameron Turnbull and a series of still images by photographer Samuel Bradley, set against the British countryside, exploring modern sartorial codes with wit and personality.
- Goggins brings humor and charm to a "playful exploration" of tailoring rules alongside Sir Paul Smith himself, covering everything from transatlantic style differences to sock etiquette in shoes-off households.
- Paul Smith previously fronted campaigns with British actor Matt Smith for AW23 and SS24 before turning to Goggins; the brand has a clear pattern of tapping culturally resonant male actors for its campaign work.
Walton Goggins is back with Paul Smith, and this time, it’s a full AW26 collection campaign. Titled Sometimes, Always, Never, the new campaign picks up from where their well-received holiday 2025 “Night to Day” partnership left off and sees Goggins in four short films and a suite of still images shot in the British countryside.
Directed by Cameron Turnbull and photographed by Samuel Bradley, whose credits include Burberry, Gucci, and Hermès, the campaign leans into Goggins’ natural charisma.
He plays off Sir Paul Smith’s tailoring wisdom, delivering dry humor through vignettes on tie etiquette and the ever-controversial socks-in-a-shoes-off-household debate. It’s classic Paul Smith: sharp, witty, and a little irreverent.
The brand has a history of leaning into actor-led campaigns. Matt Smith fronted the AW23 and SS24 collections before Goggins became the new face in late 2025.
Just as Andrew Garfield brought a cinematic edge to his Ellesse fashion campaign, Goggins brings storytelling credibility that elevates the brand’s creative work beyond standard ad fare.
Goggins has been at peak cultural visibility since his Emmy-nominated turn as Rick Hatchett in The White Lotus Season 3 on HBO and Season 2 of Amazon’s Fallout.
On the brand side, his run has been equally busy, from fronting GoDaddy’s Cannes Grand Prix-winning Super Bowl campaign to starring in Walmart’s 2025 “Who Knew?” rebrand push.
Paul Smith, however, remains his most style-forward partnership, and one rooted in a genuine personal friendship with Sir Paul himself.
Takeaways
This isn’t a one-off celebrity endorsement, it’s a brand relationship. Goggins returning for a second Paul Smith campaign in under a year signals the partnership is working on multiple levels: commercially, creatively, and culturally. Brands that find a face who genuinely fits their DNA tend to stick, and Paul Smith has clearly found that in Goggins.
The campaign also reflects a broader shift in menswear advertising. Wit and personality are becoming as important as aesthetic prestige, and Goggins, who can toggle between gravitas and deadpan comedy effortlessly, is proving to be one of the most versatile brand partners in the business right now.
Does having a genuine personal relationship between a celebrity and a brand founder, like Goggins and Sir Paul Smith, make campaigns more authentic and effective?
Could the “Sometimes, Always, Never” playful tailoring concept signal a broader evolution in how Paul Smith is positioning itself for a new generation of menswear consumers?
