 |
The
Savile Row Bespoke Association was founded in 2004 with the aim of
protecting and developing the art of bespoke tailoring on Savile Row.
Today, the Row
continues to flourish – the home to more than a dozen bespoke
tailoring businesses, employing over 100 working craftsmen that form
the centre of a unique community in London’s West End. Savile Row
is a community that not only creates a unique English luxury product,
but one that also forms the training base for young craftsmen and
women who will go on to become tailors or designers themselves.
THE NOT-FOR PROFIT
ASSOCIATION WAS FOUNDED TO FULFIL THE FOLLOWING ROLES:
Protecting
Intellectual Property
In the general
interest of member firms, ensuring that the mark ‘Savile Row
Bespoke’ is neither abused nor devalued. Savile Row Bespoke Ltd is
the owner of the Trademark. The mark is a collective mark. Further
information can be obtained from the Association’s lawyers Olswang.
Developing Training
Initiatives
The SRBA has devised
and administers apprenticeship courses in conjunction with the
Merchant Taylors’ Livery Company and Newham College.
The Savile Row
apprenticeship scheme is the form of in house training and
accreditation for Savile Row Cutters and Tailors recognised by the
SRBA.
The SRBA welcomes
proposals for training and development in conjunction with other
institutes
Promoting the Art of
Bespoke Tailoring
Working to promote
the art of bespoke tailoring and to represent the interests of
retailers and tenants of the Row whose businesses are sympathetic to
the aims of the Association.
The Savile Row
Bespoke Association has drawn attention to planning issues that are
detrimental to the Row and the measure of care needed to maintain a
working craft industry in Central London. Favourable press comment
has reminded the public that bespoke tailoring is a home-grown and
successful luxury industry, bringing vitality and originality to a
great city.
Ensuring Quality
To protect and
ensure the future of true British bespoke tailoring, the Savile Row
Bespoke Association has defined the strict quality criteria and
manufacturing standards that are upheld by member firms.
The Association
board meets regularly and welcomes applications to join.
Establishing
synergies with weavers, suppliers and subcontractors.
Facilitating
discussion to ensure the future of the industry.
The Savile Row
Bespoke label
In 2006 the Savile
Row Bespoke Association members convened to establish a method of
identifying garments specifically made by the Savile Row tailors who
meet the association’s required specifications. From this the
Savile Row Bespoke label was launched, which all the members now
include in their work to formally denote a genuine Savile Row bespoke
garment.
Made by hand, using
skills that the modern world considers archaic or lost, Savile Row
suits are simply the best suits in the world.
The Savile Row
Bespoke Association protects the art of bespoke tailoring and works
to ensure that the well dressed man will always consider Savile Row
to be his spiritual home.
Addressing
Collective Problems
The Association is a
place for discussion and consultation about collective problems of
concern to the members. The Association acts as spokesman for the
industry with local and national government services and trade
unions.
To Protect and
Promote London as an International Capital of Men’s Elegance
Working with local
government, United Kingdom and International organisations to
maintain and develop London’s unique position as one of the world’s
great cities and home of male elegance. Savile Row typifies the
values of London. It has a heritage of over two hundred years; it has
a rich mix of style, craft and individuality and an international
reputation. Westminster Council and the Central London Partnership
have now declared policies of active support to maintain Savile Row
as the international home of bespoke tailoring in central London.
|
 |
Savile
Row Bespoke Association
With such an
incredible product receiving little by way of deserved recognition in
recent years, The Savile Row Bespoke Association was formed in 2004
through an alliance of five like-minded houses – Anderson &
Sheppard, Dege & Skinner, Gieves & Hawkes, H. Huntsman &
Sons and Henry Poole & Co. – tailors which understood the need
for a trade association capable of safeguarding Savile Row’s unique
bespoke standards. Today, the SRBA has twenty-two member and
associate member houses, who work together to protect and champion
this understanding of bespoke tailoring and to promote the ingenious
craftsmen that comprise the community of Savile Row. The SRBA sets
the standards that define a Savile Row bespoke tailor, and all
members of the Association must conform to the above definition of a
bespoke suit and much more besides. A Master Cutter must oversee the
work of every tailor employed by a member house and all garments must
be constructed within a one hundred yard radius of Savile Row.
Likewise, every member must offer the customer a choice of at least
2000 cloths and rigorous technical requirements are expected. For
example, jacket foreparts must be entirely hand canvassed,
buttonholes sewn, sleeves attached and linings felled all by hand.
In addition to
promoting and securing the working practices of Savile Row tailors,
the SRBA has played a key role in promoting Savile Row’s continued
relevance as an international centre of modern, luxurious men’s
style. Since it was founded in 2004, the SRBA has initiated and taken
part in a number of events throughout the world, including
presentations at the British Ambassador’s residences in Washington,
D.C., Florence, Paris and Tokyo, the Friday Late exhibition at the
V&A in London, the British Fashion Council’s London
Collections: Men men’s fashion weeks and it’s own, widely
celebrated, Savile Row Field Day. These showcases serve to both
celebrate the art and craft of Savile Row and demonstrate to the
fashion industry and international press how the Row remains at the
zenith of its trade through its enthusiasm and willingness to
contemporise and innovate. Many SRBA member houses design and tailor
specific pieces for these events to convey their place at the centre
of modern men’s style to a young, dynamic and diverse audience.
The SRBA is not only
connecting the Row with a younger audience, but with a younger
craftsman too. The Association has introduced over fifty new
apprentices to Savile Row since 2004, ensuring that the lifeblood of
The Row – the extraordinary skills of its master tailors – can be
passed onto the next generation. Every member house must employ a
salaried apprentice at all times, whose work is overseen by the
Technical Committee of the SRBA, staffed by the Head Cutter of each
member house. Crucially, through this initiative, the Association not
only ensures that Savile Row’s future is secure, but also that the
community of Savile Row retains a valuable connection to a younger,
more contemporary customer, as well as its traditional, established
clientele.
In the same vein,
the SRBA promotes greater innovation within the industry through a
connection with its associate members. Foremost amongst these are the
abundance of world famous British woollen mills and cloth merchants
that create the superior fabrics which each and every tailor uses.
Firms such as Huddersfield-based Dugdale Bros & Co. and
Huddersfield Fine Worsteds, historic London-based merchant Dormeuil
and Harrisons of Edinburgh work closely with the SRBA to ensure that
the tailors’ fabrics are not only of an appropriate standard, but
that they too are innovatory. These mills work upon the feedback of
the SRBA, producing ever more engaging and elevated cloths whilst
still using the appropriate traditional weaving methods.
With the balancing
of tradition and innovation in mind, it should be noted that although
the Association’s primary objective is to promote Savile Row
bespoke tailoring at its finest, it would be a mistake to ignore the
continued modernisation of Savile Row’s retail practices. A number
of houses have introduced beautifully conceived and crafted
ready-to-wear capsule collections to complement their core bespoke
offering, whilst others have transformed into extraordinary
international retail destinations – expanding the appeal of Savile
Row still further, without compromising The Row’s central values of
quality and service, nor neglecting its core bespoke product, which
every member tailor retains as the heart of their business. With the
work of the SRBA, Savile Row has undergone a timely renaissance,
retaining its global reputation for quality whilst developing a new
vibrancy and dominance in the luxury retail sphere. Excitingly, the
Association itself is continuing to grow alongside the Row, with
three more member houses joining this year alone, helping to secure
Savile Row’s enduring identity in an ordinarily fickle and changing
industry.
In such an
environment Savile Row continues to grow from strength to strength,
demonstrating its relevance and confidence, promoting British style
and retaining its reputation as a global icon of men’s luxury; a
reputation which the Savile Row Bespoke Association is proud to play
a dominant role in upholding.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment