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• Ken Austin |
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Ken Austin owns Benson & Clegg, not actually in Savile Row but accepted as in the Savile Row environs, situated in the Piccadilly Arcade. He gives a wry smile when asked how he came into tailoring - and blames his mother.
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"My mother was in the clothing trade, a very accomplished machinist, and I occasionally helped in her business. So when I was leaving school and my first choice of a career in engineering wasn't possible, she suggested I do a course in bespoke tailoring at the old Shoreditch College . And that was it!"
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It wasn't quite it. A two-year course that took him through the first part of the old City and Guilds diploma saw him opt out of the remaining year of the course in order to go out into the workplace for practical training. But his new position proved not to be with a bespoke tailoring establishment, and he had aspirations for Savile Row.
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Mother stepped in again. She telephoned a Savile Row house, James & James, who agreed to interview young Ken, took him on as a trainee and also arranged that he complete his college course on a part-time basis, and pass the final City & Guilds exam.
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It was in 1970 that he joined Benson & Clegg, gradually taking the business over from the Clegg family as they retired. And since doing so he has developed and diversified the business. "You can't just do suits any more." And he travels regularly to New York. "The Americans still aren't travelling to London very much - the new crowd are the Russians." |
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"Our customers generally speaking want the classic English suit, nothing too extrovert. We try to guide them towards good cloths. There's a new tendency, what I call the numbers game, that has people believing that if they have a Super 150s or Super 200s cloth it must be good - but of course the quality comes from what is put into that cloth. Some of them have no body and crease terribly. It's a case of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing!" |
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• alan bennett |
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"Well, I was a Mod in the 1960s and liked clothes," explains Alan Bennett, owner of Davies & Son, on how he entered the Row, "and one of my school mates had a father who was at Hunstman, and my friend went there for training. He seemed to like it and so I followed him." |
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At that time, Huntsman would take on three apprentices from school every year, and they were immediately sent off for a year's training at the London College of Fashion. Following his early training at Huntsman, then the premier name in the Row, Alan gained further experience at other houses, including Kilgour, (then Kilgour, French & Stanbury), Dege, and Denman & Goddard.
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"I launched my own business in 1982 and finally acquired the lease on a shop in Savile Row in 1985. Then, due to redevelopment building work, we had to move out, and I went round into Old Burlington Street - and then came back into the Row in 1996." |
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In the process of these moves, he acquired first the old business of Davies & Son, and then a number of others. |
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"It's difficult to attract new customers in Savile Row - it isn't generally a case of attracting passing trade. But I realised that by buying into other firms, where the owner might be approaching retirement age, I could add to my customer lists. And most have been very happy with the style and the quality of what we supply." |
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This explains the long list of names on his shop front . But he also plays host to a number of other tailors, for one reason or another without their own premises, and who use his for fitting facilities. Despite somewhat limited space, it seems an amiable arrangement. |
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"We don't do anything too trendy here, our customers generally prefer plain classics, and stripes seem out of favour at present. We're very strong on exports and travel quite a bit - to the U.S., Germany, France, Switzerland. And we've had a licencee arrangement in Japan for 7 or 8 years. So we have international appeal." |
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:: Meet the Tailors:: |
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Ken Austin |
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