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!