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to the 1930s.It is also known for the Mess Shirt, originally made for army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.
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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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