WHERE DO BESPOKE SUITS GO?

A great admirer of the quality to be found in vintage and bespoke tailoring, Peter King started his career as a collector and seller of such clothes, selecting them with care, checking their authenticity.

“I have dealt with some made by top Savile Row names but they rarely come onto the market,” he explains. “I don’t know what happens to old bespoke suits – perhaps they are worn until they just wear out or are kept to be handed on. But I rarely find them.”

Nevertheless, he established a business selling other good quality, vintage clothing, including 19th century Chinese costumes and designer pieces, and had great fun, but it was necessarily limited by what he could find.

“And I had people asking if I couldn’t find a particular line or wanting larger sizes, but in a similar quality to the vintage items. And so I finally started having clothes made under my own label, Bookster, to my specifications.”

That was in 2007 and the Bookster brand has come on by leaps and bounds since then. Based in the heart of the countryside in Ross on Wye, it attracts customers from as far away as America and Germany, with an online service that provides ready-to-wear and made-to-measure options in a wide variety of cloths.

“It isn’t bespoke – I’m passionate about not misusing the term. But customers can choose the cloth, the style details and may come in for more than one fitting. If it needs tweaking, we will tweak.”

And the quality of the make is carefully controlled by King.

“I have a number of tailors who work for me, a couple concentrating upon coats and jackets, another a top trouser maker. One trained in Savile Row. Everything is made in Britain, including the cloths.”

For those who can’t always afford the Savile Row option, his clothes offer an authentically British styling and quality of make that chimes with his enthusiasm for vintage clothing and admiration for Savile Row.

Emphasis is upon country wear, ranging over hacking, shooting, Norfolk and riding jackets, through the sort of suits beloved by farmers at country fairs. But formal lounge suits are now also available in wool worsteds. An extensive gallery of styles is provided online, with bespoke options in the choice of details, and a wide variety of wool tweeds and suitings

“Americans love the country styles. But they like the personal touch, they like to consult with us. Its fantastic when you can really please a customer. We had one Texan come to us who had a 60 inch chest and 57 inch waist. He was so delighted, he ordered 6 suits. Another drove all the way from Germany to come for a fitting. I find it really exciting.”

Bespoke tailors obviously realise that most of their customers will buy ready-to-wear at times, tempted by styling, price or time. They may not delight in the competition that Bookster represents in its pursuit of high quality, but King's international success helps maintain Britain's reputation for fine menswear. In the face of all those global designer brands, that has to be a good thing.