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January 14, 2006
english cut handmade shirts
[A lovely shirt from Cole's of London.]
I have started investigating getting English Cut handmade shirts made for my clients. Every time I go to America I receive lots of requests for them, so I've decided it may be time to do something about it.
For those of you new to Savile Row and English sartoria, a little background information:
Jermyn Street is traditionally where the finest English shirtmakers have their shops. Located about five minutes walk South of Savile Row, traditionally the thing to do was go visit your tailor on Savile Row for your suits, then go visit Jermyn Street for your shirts. Even today, it's not uncommon for a customer to visit both streets on a single afternoon's shopping.
Probably the most famous shirtmaker on Jermyn Street is Turnbull & Asser, who do wonderful work. Or for those looking for something more off the beaten track, when I worked at Anderson & Sheppard we always referred our customers to Budd of Piccadilly, located in the Piccadilly Arcade, just off Jermyn Street, which is a real gem of a company. Though the shop is very small, I've been told that this is the only Jermyn Street firm that still has a proper workshop on its main premises. Wonderful.
But now it's very common for Savile Row tailors to have shirts made for their clients as well. Dege & Skinner have their very own in-house shirtmaker, but the more common practice is to subcontract the work out to third parties, the ones who also supply Jermyn Street.
When I was in London last I had a few conversations with people who could perhaps supply for me. Though I am not by trade a shirtmaker, I have had some experience with it, having apprenticed for a shirtmaker in my youth for a few months. So I may not be the world's authority, but I do know the Real McCoy when I see it. And any shirt carrying the English Cut label will be nothing less than that.
Life being short, I am only going to sell shirts of the highest quality. They'll have to be as good as anything you'll find in Jermyn Street, or else it'll just be a waste of time; yours as well as mine. That means every customer individually measured, every shirt hand cut and sewn from the client's individual pattern, using the best cottons on the market.
The usual practice is not to get a "fitting" when the garment is half-made, the way you do with a bespoke suit. Instead, the client will get a first "prototype" shirt made. The client will then try the prototype shirt on, wear it for a few washings to break it in, see how it fits, then call upon the shirtmaker with any needed adjustments. Once the adjustments on the prototype have been fixed, then and only then would the client's full order go into production [six to twelve shirts per order is fairly typical].
Then after that, all the client has to do when he wants new shirts, is get on the phone or drop me an e-mail and place an order. Easy.
Cole's of London has a very good introduction to what goes into the making of a good, Jermyn Street quality shirt, including:
1. Designs matched.
2. Removeable collar stiffeners.
3. Two-piece yoke.
4. Two-piece collar.
I would recommend go reading it on their website, under the link, "The Perfect Shirt".
If it's economically feasible, I would prefer it if the shirts were made in England. There are a few manufacturing firms still around, but it seems most shirtmaking these days is subcontracted out abroad [Peru, China, Portugal, India etc.], even with the high-end Jermyn Street firms. There's nothing inherently wrong with this, the quality may still be very high, but I suspect my customers would rather know the shirts were made in England, even if it ends up costing a little more. The label does say "English" Cut, after all.
My advice to anybody visiting Jermyn Street or Savile Row would be to ask where the shirts are manufactured, before placing an order.
We shall see where this all takes us. This idea is only in its infancy, although yes, it's already starting to receive a lot of interest from my customers. Please do let me know what you think, either in the comments or via e-mail. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thank you.
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Posted by tom at January 14, 2006 12:04 PM
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