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Golden Shears, News

 

From the left: Kasia Hughes, Joanna Spreadbury and Tilda Jonathan. Pictures: Chris Davis

The Golden Shears Awards celebrated its 50 Anniversary and announced this year’s winners at glittering showcase and awards ceremony at Merchant Taylors’ Hall. Dubbed the “Oscars of the Tailoring World”, this year’s winners were revealed as follows:

First prize: The Golden Shears and £3,000 awarded to Joanna Spreadbury – Huntsman, Apprentice  

Second prize: The Silver Shears and £2,500 awarded to Tilda Jonathan – London College of Fashion Student 

Third prize: The Rising Star and £2,000 awarded to Kasia Hughes – Connock & Lockie Apprentice  

 

The winning designs from right: Joanna Spreadbury, Tilda Jonathan and Kasia Hughes


Held every two years, this prestigious competition unites skilled fashion students and apprentice tailors, providing a platform to showcase their creative vision and technical excellence and celebrates the next generation of UK tailoring and fashion talent. Founded in 1974 by Robert Bright, MBE, the Golden Shears proudly marked its 50th anniversary this year. From nearly 90 entries, 25 finalists were selected based on their technical excellence to compete in the Golden Shears Final 2025. The highly anticipated final featured a live catwalk show judged by industry leaders, and three winners were awarded prestigious trophies as part of the evening. 

 

Entrants were either apprentices with a tailoring company or university/college students on a tailoring course . All demonstrated excellence in both their design and tailoring skills and were vetted by their master or course leader. 

 

Lady Annie Harding, the Golden Shears Committee Chair commented: “The Golden Shears 2025 at Merchant Taylors’ Hall was an exemplary showcase of tailoring excellence. The event highlighted the participants’ remarkable skills and creativity, leaving an indelible mark on all who attended. A huge thank you to the sponsors CapitB, The Pollen Estate, and The Drapers’ Company, the fantastic judges, and of course, all who entered and supported the event. Huge congratulations to the winners.”

Jenny Casebourne, Head of Portfolio of The Pollen Estate comments: “The Pollen Estate is proud to support The Golden Shears awards again this year. As custodians of Savile Row and surrounding streets, the next generation of tailors are important to our community and these awards are a testament to craftsmanship in the UK. We are excited to help nurture the future generations in their knowledge and skills of suit making and we look forward to seeing more young talent entering a career in tailoring.”

 

The Style Judges were: 

Lisa Armstrong OBE – Head of Fashion at The Daily Telegraph 

Jo Hooper – Founder of NRBY Clothing 

Catherine Hayward – Fashion Editor and Creative Director 

Stuart Trevor – Fashion designer and Founder of All Saints and STUART TREVOR clothing brands 

Jayesh Vaghela – Self-taught Master Hatter at Lock & Co. and the resident hatter on BBC’s The Repair Shop 

 

The Technical Judges were: 

Joe Morgan, Chittleborough & Morgan 

Will Adams, Dunhill 

Patrick Murphy, Davies & Son 

Juan Carlos Benito, Monte Lys 

Brigitte Steputis, Vivienne Westwood 

 

The evening was hosted by Nick Hewer and Simon Cundey from Henry Poole & Co. This year the Golden Shears show adopted a new format at Merchant Taylors’ Company. The catwalk highlighted both the entrants’ garments and the historic interiors of Merchant Taylors Hall. Emphasising sustainability, the show transitioned to an intimate salon style, aligning with current fashion industry trends. This setup provided each guest a front-row seat to closely view the high-quality entries. The Golden Shears awards were supported by CAPITB Trust, The Drapers’ Company, The Merchant Taylors’ Company and The Pollen Estate. 

 

 

 

The Golden Shears 2025 finalists were from the following universities and tailoring companies:
Universities:
•L.A.B.
•London College of Fashion
•Wimbledon College of Art
•Sunderland University
•The Tailoring Academy (Macclesfield)
•UCA (University of Creative Arts, Epsom)
•Ravensbourne University (Greenwich)

The apprentices from tailoring companies:
•Huntsman
•Henry Poole & Co
•Connock & Lockie
•Maurice Sedwell
•Fedro Gaudenzi
•Whitcomb & Shaftsbury
•Richard James
•Anderson & Sheppard
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  From the left: Kasia Hughes, Joanna Spreadbury

News, Savile Row Concours

The Concours on Savile Row, planned for this May, has been cancelled. After consultations between various parties, the organisers agreed to call off this year’s event and, subject to the approval of Westminster City Council, stage the automotive and bespoke tailoring festival again next year on May 20-21. A spokesperson for Hothouse Media said: “The challenge that we have not been able to overcome is the ongoing development of the premises at nearby 7 Burlington Gardens. The transformation of the building is a mammoth project that will be at its height during the originally scheduled dates of Concours on Savile Row 2025, with a planned 150 workmen on site. The scaffolding, which has been extended year on year, and the requirements to maintain routes for emergency vehicles, means that in order to proceed we would have to reduce the number of display vehicles from 50 to 30.

“This reduction, alongside the visual and noise impact over the two days, would severely impact the quality of the event should we go ahead. A discussion did take place with Westminster City Council about extending the event’s footprint to incorporate the top of Clifford Street and Savile Row to New Burlington Street, but due to concerns about traffic congestion on weekdays, the local authority did not feel able to approve that option.

“Having delivered a fantastic experience over the past three years, we do not wish to compromise the quality of the event for any of the stakeholders. As a result, we have concluded that the best way forward is to rest the event for one year. On a more optimistic note, the new owner of the under-renovation premises, Restoration Hardware, has confirmed that the redevelopment will be completed by spring 2026. This will have a very positive impact on Savile Row as a destination, and will provide additional hospitality opportunities for Concours on Savile Row.”

 

 

 

 

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The Concours on Savile Row, planned for

Golden Shears, News

Class of ’23: From the left: Imogen Pike, Mila Dastugue and Victoria Demekhina

The Golden Shears, known as “The Oscars of the Tailoring World”,  are back to celebrate the next generation of tailors in the UK. Every two years, the Golden Shears bring together the very best fashion students and apprentice tailors from around the country in friendly competition to showcase their creative and technical excellence. Around 20-25 entries are selected on technical merit to go through to the live final in March when they will judged by a celebrity style panel. There will be three three trophies awarded on the night: 1st prize: The Golden Shears and £3,000, 2nd prize: The Silver Shears and £2,500, 3rd prize: The Rising Star and £2,000. The finale of this year’s competition will be held on Monday, March 17, at Merchant Taylors’ Hall on Threadneedle Street in the City of London. Tickets are now available.

Two years ago, girl power was the name of the game as three young women walked away with the honours. First prize and The Golden Shears went to Mila Dastugue from The Wimbledon College of Arts with Victoria Demekhina, from The Tailoring Academy, collecting The Silver Shears. The Rising Star was Imogen Pike, also from The Wimbledon College of Arts.

At the time, Simon Cundey, Chairman of Golden Shears and MD of Henry Poole & Co, was immensely pleased with how the evening went. “We’re delighted to be back as a live show after the pandemic and at this historic and amazing venue,” he said on the night. “It’s lovely to be live. That is a big thing for us. Having the rapport with everyone – the families, the college lecturers, the trade shouting and screaming for their entries was fantastic. It is imperative that the clothing industry does all it can to motivate the next generation of fashion leaders and nothing demonstrates that better than the Golden Shears competition.”

The Golden Shears were founded in 1974 by Robert Bright, MBE. Entrants are either apprentices with a tailoring company or university/college students on a tailoring course. All have to demonstrate excellence in both their design and tailoring skills and be vetted by their master or course leader. In 2023, from over 70 entries, 22 were selected on technical merit to go through to final and were judged by a celebrity style panel.

Click here for Golden Shears Gallery 2023

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Class of '23: From the left: Imogen

Events, Launches

Sustainability champions: Su Thomas,  John Parkinson and Sam Goates                                                  

By Daniel Evans

Su Thomas, known to many on Savile Row for her excellent work with the Savile Row Bespoke Association, has taken up the new challenge of improving sustainability among the finest tailors in the land. After the best part of 20 years managing the SRBA, Su has committed to improving recycling and renewal in a part of Mayfair more used to sticking with tradition and heritage.

Garments from Eco-Luxe on show during Wool Month

As we sit in the offices of Holland and Sherry, Su tells me why she decided to make the move. “I got fed up with seeing tailors throwing away really high-quality 100 per cent wool waste,” she says. “I started talking to some of the older tailors who remembered that they used to pick up the waste and, back then, they had the machines to break it down to reuse it. I decided I wanted to see if we could go back to that. I didn’t know how it was going to turn out but I was determined to give it a go. When I told the tailors what I was doing, they said ‘fantastic, yes… we’re on board with that’.”

Su set up her company, Eco-Luxe, to focus on her recycling ambitions and encourage the tailors of Savile Row to recycle their own textile waste into cloth of such quality that it can be resold to their high-end clients.  “The aim of it is to find a zero waste programme,” she explains. “You take textile waste, you break it down, you have a transparent process so you can show you can break it down. You have to put something else with the waste so it is strong enough to spin again so we’ve gone for British organic lambswool. You spin it again and then it goes back into weaving so it’s a completely zero waste circular programme.”

Su oversees what is now a three-point production line. First, the waste cloth – or mungo – is collected in bags by individual Savile Row tailors, it is then transported up to Yorkshire and handed over to John Parkinson who has a textile recycling business called iinouiio (which stands for It Is Never Over Until It Is Over). Once the yarn is produced, it travels another 600 miles north to be woven by Sam Goates who runs Woven in the Bone, a micro-mill, in Buckie on the north east coast of Scotland. Then, it returns to Savile Row to be made into new garments.

The project was unveiled during the annual Campaign for Wool Month. Campaign for Wool, which has King Charles as its patron, was set up back in 2010 to promote the wool industry and highlight the importance of sustainability, aims which Eco-luxe shares. As John explained: “It’s been an incredibly exciting project to work on and we’re delighted it came to fruition during Wool Month, which is a key event for us to demonstrate and promote responsible textile manufacturing with the aim of breathing new life into discarded textiles. From things that have been dropping onto cutting room floors and thrown away we end up with a beautiful piece of cloth that’s ready to be used all over again.”

Anderson & Sheppard Senior Cutter Leon Powell collects ‘mungo’ for recycling

It’s early days yet, but initial reports suggest the enterprise will be a success. Leon Powell, Senior Cutter at Anderson & Sheppard, told the Haptic & Huw podcast: “I think a lot of customers will really enjoy this story,” he said. “In today’s society, people want this. People want to know where these clothes come from – the background. In this day and age, it’s part of the story. Some customers will like the idea and think it’s really forward thinking and clever. We were so impressed with the cloth we have commissioned a length for ourselves. The romance, the idea, everything about it. Just fantastic for the industry.”

After Su had decided she wanted to take on this recycling project, her first challenge was to find a craftsman with the skill – and machinery – to carry out the task. After a nine-month hunt, she tracked down John Parkinson, who was involved in textile recycling using traditional Yorkshire methods, but even he didn’t have the right machinery. Su takes up the story: “It was pre-Covid and, at the time, DEFRA were giving out grants for sustainable projects and I was happy to support John’s successful application to build the first fibre opening machine back in the UK. It’s an absolutely massive machine – it cost around £220,000 and takes up the whole of the warehouse.”

Savile Row’s big five – Anderson & Sheppard, Henry Poole, Dege & Skinner, Gieves & Hawkes and Richard Anderson – are very much fans of the project. As Su explains: “They all have Royal Warrants and you have to tick an awful lot of sustainability boxes to retain them. So, collecting their waste and giving it to us fits into that. But we are still in a research and development period. Having proved this recycled cloth was good enough to be used by Savile Row tailors, we have to look at other areas – like can we dye? Should we use vegetable dyes? If you dye in the normal process, you are introducing chemicals into the equation.”

Su knows that the ultimate success of the project will depend on producing cloth the tailors on Savile Row want to use on a regular basis but she is up for the challenge. “We can provide a great story for tailors to tell,” she says. “More and more customers want to know where their clothes come from – how sustainable is the process. With our recycled cloth, the tailors can tell that story. It’s very British – all made in the UK. Everyone has a very clear idea of exactly what happens. From taking the clippings on the floor and bringing them back to life. They can say it’s a zero waste programme. It’s really about the story from start to finish and show it can be done.”

 

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Sustainability champions: Su Thomas,  John Parkinson and

News

Christmas lights are twinkling again along Savile Row  in the heart of Mayfair. The Christmas lights, launched last year and put up again for 2024, are inspired by iconic tools found in every tailor’s workshop: a pair of shears, representing some of the key values of Savile Row, craftsmanship, skill and knowledge. The giant illuminated golden shears are seen cutting through a glittering swathe of ‘fabric’, with the message of ‘Savile Row Christmas’ twinkling against the winter sky. The festive lights illuminate The Row, from the corner of Clifford Street down to the corner of Burlington Gardens, adjacent to the Royal Academy of Arts.

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Christmas lights are twinkling again along Savile