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• OLDEST HOUSE IN THE ROW CELEBRATES 200 TH ANNIVERSARY |
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HENRY Poole & Co are celebrating their 200th anniversary this year. This really is quite an achievement for an independent craft business in this era dominated by chains and conglomerates, all the more remarkable since it is still a family business.
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Henry Poole was actually started by James Poole but it was his son Henry that made the firm famous in the 1800s, and his subsequent business partner, Samuel Cundey, who was responsible for ensuring that it would continue to this day. Now, it is run by Angus Cundey and his son Simon, the sixth and seventh generation of Cundey's.
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Back in the mid-1800s, Poole 's showroom in Savile Row was like a club for all the style leaders of the time, including the then Prince of Wales, and Henry Poole, a larger-than-life character, put Savile Row on the map. |
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Poole 's continues to attract an illustrious clientele and will be marking this anniversary year in a number of ways, culminating in a major celebration in the Autumn. |
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• STRIPED TO PERFECTION |
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Eat your heart out ready-mades! This is a sublime example of the bespoke tailors art and rightly won acclaim for its maker, Andrew Ramroop of Maurice Sedwell at the most recent World Congress of Tailors. In a Super 120s worsted by Zegna, its unusual use of the stripes horizontally earned him "Most Creative Tailor" title. Note also the buttonhole detail, picking up the red of the tie and handkerchief. |
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• First - find your tailor |
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FINDING a tailor in Savile Row might seem a simple task. It is after all just chock full of discreet establishments selling suits. |
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But in a street full of places to eat, it takes the cognescenti to know which ones are fine restaurants and which ones will be serving up the culinary equivalent of off-the-peg schmutter. Choosing a tailor in Savile Row must not be left to a lucky dip. |
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Search online listings under Savile Row. There's a whole host of names that have as much relation to bespoke tailoring as a sow's ear has to a silk purse. Some of these may, to mix our metaphors, charge a king's ransom for a pauper's raiment, while others will entice with a price for a whole suit that would hardly cover the cost of a sleeve in the true bespoke article.
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We know the Row and its tailors. We give some information on their individual talents in these pages. Our 'Companions of Savile Row' lists some of the best names, and there are others. But we are not funded by nor affiliated to any tailoring house or textile company in any way. Ours views are our own. |
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| We are here to help: And who are we? Click here for info |
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• Footnote |
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TEN years ago, fine shoemaker John Lobb, in London's Jermyn Street. launched a numbered, limited edition shoe design, on the 25th October. That is St Crispin's Day
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- patron saint of shoemakers - and each year since another limited edition shoe has been introduced.
On this 10th anniversary year, the design is an elegant five-eyelet Oxford, as here, hand-crafted from two pieces of the finest calf leather.
A special antiquing process gives added lustre to the leather. Price £680. |
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• silver lining for feet |
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| Not so much a silver lining more a coating, in these new socks that are the latest thing to keep your toes warm. Developed by Carnation Silversocks are high quality textile socks made from fibres coated with pure silver. This regulates the temperature of the foot and helps moisture evaporate, keeping feet warmer and more comfortable. They are especially beneficial for those who suffer from poor circulation.
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:: British Skin Expansion :: |
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IT is all too easy to believe that the once rich diversity of classic British manufacturing families has disappeared, made extinct by a combination of government policies, generational ineptitude and globalisation. So it is nice to find one that is not only continuing but finding new outlets for its old skills.
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This is Tusting, a luxury leather goods house, honing its craft long before some of today's fashion leather brand names were a twinkle in their marketing director's laptop. |
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Tusting - Luxury Leather Goods |
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Younger consumers may not be aware that British leather goods at one time were top of the league. The raw material, the tanneries and the craftsmen who worked on the skins were second to none. Alas, many aspects of this once close knit industry have now disappeared or been gobbled up by internationals or forsaken quality in pursuit of fast turnover. |
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Happily, Tusting remains true to its family traditions. Still run by the Tusting family, brothers William and Alistair, in the heart of the English countryside, their current tannery lies close to the site where their great, great, grandfather first started making leather goods in 1875. |
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This continuity means they have a local workforce skilled over generations in tanning, grading and creating fine leathers. And to the classic briefcases, wallets, handbags, holdalls and sports bags that their craftsmen and women have been creating, they have now added a splendid collection of leather furniture. |
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Launched this autumn, these tailor made exclusive designs reflect a similar classic style to that evident in their other lines. Such has been its success since earlier this autumn that extra designs are to be added in the New Year. Examples to be seen on www.tusting.co.uk
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