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
About
