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December 31, 2007
the fantastic four....
( the fantastic four)
"Fantastic four". Those are Ed's words, not mine :)
New Year's Eve, here at English Cut. As you can see I look the most tired out of all my former Anderson & Sheppard colleagues. It's been a very busy end of year for me and all my tailors. Well, that's my excuse, anyway.
We had a super party here at Warwick Hall with our old friends and enjoyed catching up. This crew you may recognize from left to right as, Edwin Steed, Paul Griffith my tailor, a worn out Me, and A&S's former head cutter, Alan Pitt.
I know we don't look like tailors, but it is 4.00pm on New Years' Eve and it's time for a cup of tea and a thorough gossip on all the good and bad that's happened in the trade over the last twelve months.
It's funny, as I remember these end-of-year chats we had when I worked at Anderson & Sheppard in London. Here we are and I've still got the same people around me but were in a different world. I suppose a typical example of it's "who you are and what you can do", not where some people think you should be.
The day, and year, is nearly over and were off to the pub for a quick Cumberland ale or two. I hope you can do the same and wish you all a wonderful 2008.
Posted by tom at 3:13 PM | Comments (0)
December 24, 2007
Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year...
(Snow in Cumbria)
Well, it's Christmas Eve and I've still got a lot to do. I want to thank all our friends and wish you all a very Happy Christmas and wonderful New Year. Talk to you in 2008 :)
Posted by tom at 11:05 AM
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Well I'm home, safe and sound. As usual, Everyone in the USA was a delight. I didn't meet many new clients on this trip as we simply didn't have the time- our book was that full. Because of this I expected the order book to be very light- however, I was very wrong. We were very fortunate that many of our customers re-ordered, so we've returned with another huge pile of work. This overcoat I'm cutting is for a very lucky fellow from Kiev. I say "lucky" because I couldn't afford one of these things. I really wish you could reach in to your monitor and touch this cloth. I promise you it's quite unbelievable how soft and luxurious it is. This fabric is from Scabal and it's an incredible Cashmere and Vicuna mix. I know there are some very expensive fabrics out there, but to be honest I'm not totally convinced they're are as special as they claim. But If I wore a hat, I'd take it off to Scabal, because this is something special. When I make something like this I have a very simple rule for pricing. Quite simply If it's going to cost me an extra £500 or £1000 to make, then I just add this to the bill and my profit is the same. I don;t do a "mark-up". However you won't find this at most tailors. What they do, which in all fairness is probably a good idea. is they charge what I call "Danger Money". Instead of covering the cost (as I do) they'll usually double it, which makes things even more exclusive. I won't tell you what it costs. The details are there, so I'll let you ring some of the other tailors on Savile Row for the good news. Also in the news: At last things are happening here at the Hall's stables. The bats the owls and the planners are all happy so we should now have progress. I'm very fortunate to be so busy these days. I'm not even able to accept orders from my existing clients, that's how busy it is, so sadly I'm unable to consider any new ones. As I said I'll keep my head down, Paul will keep turning out lovely clothes and Alan will keep us all in order. With a bit of luck we'll be clear in the spring and be ready for a holiday :-)
Posted by tom at 8:24 AM
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December 3, 2007
cashmere & vicuna....
(that time of year again)
It's winter here in Cumbria now, so spending a lot of time at work is as good as anything. Light the fire and keep the head down until spring, I think.
(cashmere and vicuna by scabal)
(our new cutting room)