15 People.
One Standard.

Loft Customs is a team of textile engineers, designer, and trained craftspeople working from a 320-square-metre workshop in Palma de Mallorca. We come from seven countries, speak five languages, and share one obsession: making things that belong on the water.

  • INFRASTRUCTURE

The Workshop

Loft Customs operates from a purpose-built 320-square-metre atelier in the Son Oms industrial zone of Palma de Mallorca — one of the Mediterranean's most active sailing yacht refit hubs.

The workshop runs year-round. Fifteen people across design, pattern-making, sewing, finishing, and project coordination. Floor-to-ceiling windows. Industrial sewing machines alongside precision hand tools. Every cover, bag, and enclosure that carries the Loft name is designed and built here.

Clients who visit are usually surprised. This isn't a shed with a sewing machine. It's a production facility with the systems and capacity to deliver full superyacht textile packages, Grand Prix race fitouts, and everything in between — on schedule, without compromise.

  • FOUNDER & DESIGN DIRECTOR

Brendan Simons

BJ has been building for the water since he was thirteen. He started in a small sail loft in Opua, New Zealand working for free after school, weekends and school holidays. At fifteen, he left home for Auckland to work at Lidgards, then North Sails New Zealand and then the America's Cup.

Three campaigns with Alinghi (2003, 2007, 2010) and five years on Grand Prix circuits with teams like Ran Racing, Belle Mente, Sail GP and Cannonball as a sailmaker.

He makes and designs textile packages for some of the most significant superyachts and race yachts on the water.

BJ leads every design consultation. He visits the boat, assesses the brief, and more often than not sees solutions very quickly. His background in high-performance racing — where grams matter and failure isn't tolerated — informs every cover Loft builds, regardless of whether it's destined for a TP52 or a 50-metre refit.

  • Specialisations: Design consultation, pattern engineering, material specification, America's Cup and Grand Prix race textile systems, superyacht refit coordination.
  • Languages: English, conversational Spanish.
  • Countries worked in: New Zealand, Switzerland, Spain, Puerto Rico, Netherlands, Finland, United Kingdom, Caribbean, United States, Austraila and more.
  • CO-FOUNDER & OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

Melanie Simons

Mel runs the business. Client coordination, production scheduling, logistics, supplier management, invoicing, HR, and the port authority paperwork that keeps a marine textile operation legal in the Balearic Islands.
She manages a 15-person team across multiple time zones, coordinates deliveries to boats that move between Mediterranean ports on unpredictable schedules, and ensures that every project runs first-come, first-served — no exceptions, regardless of budget.

  • Specialisations: Operations management, client relations, project scheduling, international logistics, supplier coordination across Mediterranean and global shipping networks.
  • Languages: German (native), English, Spanish, French (reading and comprehension).
  • Business communications: Daily operations in Spanish, English, and German. Client inquiries primarily in English (the standard language of the marine industry). Local suppliers, port authorities, and government administration in Spanish.
  • TALENT RECOGNIZED

The Golden Scissors

At Loft Customs, five years service earns you a pair of golden scissors.

It's not a corporate award. It's a pair of professional shears with gold-plated handles and your name engraved on the blade. It's handed over in the workshop, in front of the team.

The people who earn them are proud. They display them at their station. It's become one of the quiet traditions that defines what Loft is — a place where people stay because the work matters and the standard never drops.

Several members of the current team hold golden scissors with the longest employee being at Loft for nine years. In an industry where skilled labour is exceptionally hard to find and retain, long tenure says more about the core values of Loft than any marketing ever could.

GLOBAL TALENT

The Team

Loft's team is international by nature — drawn to Mallorca by the sailing, the climate, and the work. The current workshop includes people from Spain, the United Kingdom, Argentina, New Zealand, Austria, Finland and Poland.

Some came from sailmaking backgrounds. Some came from textile manufacturing — one team member previously worked in a Nike factory in Argentina, another in industrial upholstery. Others arrived with no textile experience at all but with skilled hands and a willingness to learn. BJ and the senior team train every new hire to Loft's standard, regardless of their starting point.

The result is a workshop where a master craftsperson with 40 years of cover-making experience works alongside someone who discovered textiles two years ago — and both produce work that meets the same specification. That's not an accident. That's how the training works.

  • Combined team experience: 100+ years in marine textiles, sailmaking, and industrial manufacturing.
  • Nationalities represented: New Zealand, Austria, Spain, United Kingdom, Argentina, Finland, Poland.
  • Languages spoken in the workshop: English, Spanish, German, Polish, Catalan, French
  • MALLORCA BASED

Global Reach

Loft Customs is based in Mallorca, but the work goes everywhere the boats go.

We've shipped textile packages to the Caribbean, the United States, Northern Europe, the Netherlands, Finland, the United Kingdom, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. For superyachts and large race programmes the distance is rarely a barrier.

For local work in the Balearic Islands, BJ and the team visit boats in port for patterning and fitting. For boats outside Mallorca, we work remotely from detailed photos, measurements, and clear communication with a single point of contact on board.

  • Regions served: Mediterranean (Balearic Islands, mainland Spain, France, Italy, Greece), Northern Europe (Netherlands, United Kingdom, Scandinavia), Caribbean, United States, Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand.

Careers at Loft

Loft Customs is always interested in hearing from skilled people.

Our industry is exceptionally niche — even experienced cover makers rarely have the specific skills we need. We train everyone to our standard, so what matters most is attitude, hand skills, and a willingness to learn. Sailmaking experience is a bonus, not a requirement.

If you're interested in working with marine textiles at the highest level, in a workshop that values quality over speed and precision over shortcuts — get in touch.

Send your CV to mel@loftcustoms.com→

READY TO SPEC YOURS?

FROM RACE-READY ESSENTIALS TO FULL-FLEET CUSTOM SYSTEMS.
BUILT FOR CREWS. FINISHED FOR OWNERS.

START THE BRIEF

Loft Customs
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.