A few weeks ago we received a request from the London College of Fashion asking us to sit on their industrial advisory panel to represent “modern tailoring”. With intrigue we attended, and ended up sitting alongside some of the big names in the industry. Names to note were the head tailor from Nutters of Savile Row (the founder Tommy Nutter is the icon who dressed the Beatles and Rolling Stones in the 60s), the Head Designer from Ted Baker who can be accredited with their popular styling, and numerous others from Savile Row and the broader world of bespoke tailoring.

The faculty head kicked off the meeting on course curriculum, but it quickly became apparent that what they were looking for wasn’t direction on their course (they’d already decided how that would look) but for insight into what’s happening in the real world of fashion and London tailoring in specific. In academia it’s easy to become isolated, so keeping in contact with industry is hugely important for both the College and their students. What ensued was an interesting discussion on the issues facing Savile Row and the dynamic the tailoring industry is seeing with the entrance of some of the modern London tailors like ourselves.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that in times like these companies charging £3000 plus for a suit will be hurting, and they are hurting, but the real bug bear they (to be specific the head tailor at Nutters) had is that many of the new entrants aren’t playing fair. The example given that sticks in my mind was the “bespoke British suit” sold as such in England by British tailoring firms, that is in fact neither made in Britain nor a bespoke suit.

This issue came to a head in 2008 when a Savile Row collective took the tailoring firm Sartoriani to court, claiming that the suits they advertise as “bespoke” are in fact made-to-measure and that Sartoriani are wrongfully advertising their product. Savile Row want the term “bespoke” to become a protected term, something like “champagne” or “haute couture” are protected in France. The result of the court case was the British Advertising Standards Agency ruled that (more…)