Jonathan Quearney

Good morning everyone – a quick post to remind readers that next week I will be in North America (Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco and New York to be precise) and that there are still some free appointments. Even better news is that the exchange rate is hovering just over 1.5 (US$) and 1.55 (CAN$) and it may slide further.

This makes our prices, which are already free of sales tax, look very attractive:

Custom tailored Jacket: from US$690 or CAN$710

Bespoke Jacket: from US$1,900 or CAN$1,960

2 piece custom tailored suit: from US$1,020 or CAN$1,050

2 piece bespoke suit: from US$2,520 or CAN$2,610

3 piece bespoke suit: from US$3,015 or CAN$3,115

Custom tailored shirt: from US$170 or CAN$180

Bespoke shirt: from US$290 or CAN$300

Of course, any major fluctuations in the exchange rates may have to be taken into account once I am over the Atlantic. In addition, these prices include a 10% introductory discount because we believe in introducing all our customers, and especially our younger customers, to the traditional Savile Row standards of excellence, service, comfort and fit.

We hope that this will go some way to reversing the current shopping trends and to return to an age where choice, anticipation and personal service define the whole experience. The strong dollar means that this is an excellent time to sample Savile Row quality for less!

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Our collaboration with Franklin shoes has been developing for quite some time now and we are just about to finalise our first shoe design, which will be a plain black oxford. We think we have found something really special and we will expand our range to take in all the classic designs.

In terms of construction, the last is hand-made, rather than machine-made, allowing for greater subtlety. There is a hand-channelled leather insole, which is usually only offered on a fully bespoke hand-made shoe, rather than a ribbed insole which is standard on most other premium shoes. The toe puff and heel stiffener are leather instead of thermo-heated plastic as is common on most other shoes as well. Of course, we only use premium leathers, including museum calf, and genuine oak bark soles for added durability.

We are going to offer a range of sizes at a standard width at the shop, if you need anything else, we can have the last adjusted and a special pair of shoes made for you at a small additional cost.

We will have a future post giving more information on the technical construction and showing off the silhouette and shape we have achieved with pictures of some of the colours available – just keep checking the blog!

Posted by jonathan quearney at 03:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There have long been rumours of Savile Row’s demise. There seem to be two driving forces to this argument: first, that market forces are pushing tailors off the traditional tailoring streets on and surrounding Savile Row, and second, that Savile Row is old fashioned and out of touch, exemplified by Giorgio Armani’s criticism.

Even in 1965 the Tailors Federation was complaining about the encroachment of developers on to Savile Row and Sackville Street. Then 1987 saw the re-zoning of Savile Row, removing the light industrial description which also removed the protected rents enjoyed by the craftsmen on the Row. This wasn’t just limited to Savile Row, Hatton Garden and Jermyn Street suffered just as much. This de-regulation of the commercial property market is now being keenly felt by the tailoring establishments on Savile Row.

As Tailor & Cutter 1965 puts it, we don’t want the West End to be “available only to the gilt edged headquarters of octopoid international organisation or the subsidised isolationism of Civil Service offices”, but to be an area for “shopping, good living and well-being which gives a city its soul”.

Our point is that Savile Row as a geographical place may be under threat but the group of tailors who trained on Savile Row and decided to take the Savile Row ethos and apply it to modern menswear is not under threat.

The Savile Row Bespoke Association has developed criteria about what can be described as Savile Row Bespoke, but we are not in conflict with that and we support their efforts to protect what is best of Savile Row. But there have been a string of successful tailors, from the late Dougie Hayward to Tom Mahon, who have proved that Savile Row quality need not be inextricably linked to the street. In this way the standards and quality of the Savile Row brand are being developed and respected outside the traditional confines of the Row and breathing more and more life into English tailoring.

The second point is easier to deal with; with the utmost respect, Mr Armani is wrong. Some of his criticism could have been correct in the past, but English tailoring has woken up and realises the need to protect and innovate. As pointed out above, there are many excellent tailors who are developing their own style and skill based on the traditional training received on Savile Row and who are willing to experiment and innovate.

Savile Row, in both the narrow geographical sense and the broader sense, is thriving and our experience is that in fact it is the younger generations who are discovering bespoke for the first time and enjoying it!

Posted by jonathan quearney at 05:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)