HAVE NEEDLE, WILL TRAVEL

A new generation of travelling tailors is on the road visiting clients

Have needle, will travel has stood many a refugee in good stead, as witnessed among the waves of immigrants who have arrived on these and other shores, fleeing from persecution in the 19th and 20th centuries.The sewing needle was the most easily transportable trade tool for those embarking upon long journeys.

Today, the term has taken on more localised status in the UK, with a new brand of style-conscious young men and women keen to be in the tailoring business, yet wary of shop and overhead costs.  Some work from home, others have workrooms at affordable rates off the beaten track or rent fitting facilities within the Row.  And though their standards may not all be of a Savile Row level, they are helping to swell the growing appreciation of ‘personal’ styling.

Not to be confused with the time-honoured practice of ‘a sitting’ in Savile Row, whereby a tailor has space in someone else’s premises, this latest wave of travelling tailors see their peripatetic state as a positive advantage.  They go to their customers, taking cloth bunches, tape measure, chalk and any other tools of the trade, to offices and homes and hotels, where fittings also take place.

Some have needed help with their travelling, as here, while many disembarked at Liverpool after long sea voyages, top, thinking they had reached the New World.

It is a service particularly geared to those working long and busy hours, who have no time to get to a tailor. But the tools of the trade and the cloth selections are not as limited as once they were, and added to the weight of a suit or several for fittings, make up to quite a load.  So much so that one company with a widespread clientele among City law firms and barristers, found that the workload weight was taking its toll.

“My problem is that I literally walk around London all day, every day, up and down stairways, over kerbs, inclines and cobbles," explained Roy Birch of St James Tailors.  

"You can't park easily in the City and so I walk over six miles a day and have to take a heavy case loaded with suiting samples with me. I used a very well-known brand of case and had to replace the wheels every month.”.

In some desperation, he contacted Live Luggage and as a result, trialed their latest design. Loading their Hybrid PA bag with 40kg of textile samples, he put it to the test over more than a hundred miles around London town.

“The difference that this case made is astounding,” he reports.  “The anti-gravity handle system which pivots from the base of the case puts 85% of the weight directly over the large powered wheels and is so much easier to walk around with, even fully loaded."

One of the Hybrid bags is shown here - they retail around £240. A leather version would really take the product into the luxury market. www.liveluggage.com

His tailoring training came from his parents, who were Cut, Make and Trim professionals (CMT) and he has run his own business on and off for around 20 years, still doing some work for Savile Row but with his own well established business covering the City, West End and Belgravia.

"We don't have a website. There are so many visiting tailors now who have websites that offer bespoke tailoring that is nothing of the sort, that we felt it was better to do stay separate. We make a fully bespoke item and I'd close down before I started having clothes made for us in China." Tel 0163860 2436

“Pretend I’m your wife,” Alexandra Wood advised a hesitating customer.“Men like advice from women, and so, if they can’t bring their wife along, I like to feel I can help.”

This tall, attractive young woman has run her own tailoring business since 2007 and has found that customers like the female touch. She has a facility for meeting clients within Holland & Sherry in Savile Row but otherwise travels between customers homes or offices, in London and the Hertfordshire countryside, where she is based.

“I also advise them on how they might wear a suit. It is no longer just a formal outfit but can be worn with T-shirt and trainers for a casual look, or dressed up for weddings or with the classic shirt and tie for business. It has plenty of variety.”

She began her career in a small tailors shop in Hertfordshire, after a course at the London College of Fashion, where she concentrated upon male tailoring. She then moved on to the exotic Shanghai Tang in Knightsbridge, where she made clothes for men and women.

“At Shanghai Tang I was taught imperial tailoring, learning the art of oriental designs such as qi paos, along with designing a collection of tailored suits which was sold out within a week."
Above and left, classic styles by Alexandra Wood.

Now, she travels between London and the country, and by taking on and completing the training of around half dozen staff, she has more time to visit individual clients and a growing list of corporate groups, as well as meet demand to make womenswear.

“I found the wives of customers were asking if I could make for them. So I have created a collection of women’s styles that will be launched, with some men’s outfits, at a gala evening event at Brocket Hall in March and that will be followed by another show at Hanbury Manor.” www.alexandrawood.com

Jasper Littman travels into London from his home in the Buckinghamshire countryside and has established a substantial customer base around the capital.

"Without a shop on the Row, you do lose out when it comes to establishing a name. But I've had an excellent start to the New Year, a Danish TV channel is featuring me and I'm planning some promotional work in the City."

He worked for Burberrys, Gieves & Hawkes and Kilgour visiting customers before staring his own business seven years ago. Many of his clients work in the City but "others come from all walks of life," he reports. His website has attracted calls from around the world, with suggestions that he might extend his travelling, both inside and outside the country.
Classic three-button suit by Jasper Littman.

"But the time factor is the main consideration. In London, I can see a number of customers in a day. I can't travel lengthy distances to see one customer."

Like Alexandra Wood, he has a facility for meeting customers within Savile Row in the Holland & Sherry showroom but otherwise is happy with his travelling status, which suits his customers too. www.jasperlittman.com