Sunday 22 January 2023

BUDD SHIRTMAKERS 3 PICCADILLY ARCADE, LONDON / VIDEO: What makes a Budd shirt? | Budd Shirts






Budd is a high-end tailor for shirts based in London's Piccadilly Arcade. Budd was founded in 1910, and is known to cater to many notable figures of British high society.

 

History

Budd was founded in 1910 by Harold Budd as an exclusively bespoke shirtmaker. Its original premises were located in Piccadilly Arcade, adjacent to Jermyn Street.[3] After bombing during the Blitz, Budd bought premises opposite the original store, which were the only premises in the Arcade still standing. It is now the only original member of the Arcade still operating.

 

In 1983, Budd was acquired by the Webster Brothers, another British shirtmaker founded in 1847.

 

In 2013, Budd was acquired by a group led by Stephen Murphy,[6] former owner of Saville Row tailor H. Huntsman & Sons and board member of the Brown Thomas Group.

 

In 2020 Budd collaborated with model and photographer, Laura Bailey and stylist Cathy Kasterine, to create a collection of shirts and nightwear for women under the Bailey x Budd label.

 

Methods and products

Budd is known for its highly traditional British style of shirtmaking, and is described by Spear's as demonstrating "heroic resistance to change". It is said to be the only remaining shirtmaker with a cutting room still above the shop. The primary Budd workshop is located in Andover.

 

Budd's best known pattern is the Budd Stripe, also called the Edwardian Stripe, which dates to the 1930s.It is also known for the Mess Shirt, originally made for army officers.

 

Today, Budd sells ready-to-wear shirts as well as providing a bespoke service. It also sells accessories including scarves, gloves, ties and collars.

 

Budd's shirts have also been worn by characters in film and TV, including Matt Smith in Doctor Who and Hugh Bonneville in Downton Abbey.

 

Budd was referenced in the lyrics of the song the "Best of Everything" in the 1919 musical La La Lucille by George Gershwin "I go to Budd for my cravats, Stetson makes my hats. A Rolls-Royce, the best thing on wheels was my choice of automobiles".

 

Budd after the bomb

In Off the Cuff & Heritage & Craft by Natalie 6th September 2013

https://www.buddshirts.co.uk/blog/2013/09/budd-bomb-2/


 

In April 1941, during WW2, St.James's was badly bombed. Dunhill, on the corner of Jermyn St, a few yards from Budd, took a direct hit. Then at 3 am on 17 April, the Luftwaffe dropped a 2200lb parachute bomb which detonated at rooftop height .The Piccadilly Arcade was devastated and Budd's shop at No 4 burnt down.

 

However, the spirit of the London Blitz was alive and well. Mr Dunhill  continued to sell his exclusive merchandise from a wheelbarrow on Jermyn St and Harold Budd immediately bought the leases on the only two habitable shops left standing in the arcade. Budd moved to Numbers 1A and 3 Piccadilly Arcade where it has been ever since.

 

The re-building of  the  Arcade after the bombing was not completed until 1957. However, because of this wartime disaster, Harold Budd was forced to reinvent his business.  Commercial realities forced the move away from exclusively  bespoke to include ready to wear. This was the beginning of Budd the haberdashers we know today selling not only shirts and ties but a whole range of accessories for a gentleman's wardrobe.



 

BUDD SHIRTMAKERS

https://web.archive.org/web/20181031173900/https://www.countryandtownhouse.co.uk/brands-guide/budd-shirtmakers/

 

Be it bespoke, made to measure or ready to wear, when it comes to the perfect shirt, there are no short cuts. Budd Shirtmakers, which has been cutting and making shirts by hand since 1910, wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

Budd is one of only a handful of truly authentic shirtmakers in the UK today and, sooner or later, anyone who cares about fit, cut, craftsmanship and quality makes a pilgrimage to its shop in the Piccadilly Arcade. Though the premises are tiny, they’re a veritable Pandora’s Box of shirts, ties, dresswear, nightwear and gentlemen’s haberdashery. If you can’t see what you’re looking for, it’s probably down in the stock room or hidden away in one of the many cupboards.

 

And there’s more: in the workroom above the shop are three of the best cutters in London, who not only cut and make the patterns for Budd’s bespoke shirts, but fit them as well, ensuring that customers’ measurements and special requests are recorded directly onto their pattern.




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