1913
Hawes &
Curtis was founded by two accomplished outfitters, Ralph Hawes and George
Frederick Curtis, who opened the first store at 24 Piccadilly Arcade in
February 1913. From the beginning the heritage brand has been acclaimed by
aristocracy and Hollywood's elite. Notable customers have included the Duke of
Windsor, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Lord Mountbatten, Frank Sinatra
and Fred Astaire.
Hawes &
Curtis is a British fashion company founded in 1913, currently operating 29
stores in the United Kingdom including two in Jermyn Street, London. The brand
is best known for their shirts and jackets.
The company
was founded by two tailors, Ralph Hawes and George Frederic "Freddie"
Curtis, who opened the first store in Piccadilly Arcade, at the corner with
Jermyn Street, in London in 1913.
On 1
December 1922, Hawes & Curtis Hosiers was granted a royal warrant by the
then Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor). In July
1938, King George VI awarded the company a second royal warrant, and then, in
1948, a third one to Hawes & Curtis Tailors. This warrant lasted throughout
the King’s reign. In 1957, the Duke of Edinburgh awarded Hawes & Curtis
with a fourth Royal Warrant which remained until 1985.
Businessman
Touker Suleyman[5] acquired the company under the group Low Profile Holdings in
2002 for the symbolic amount of £1.
Designers'
legacy
Hawes &
Curtis are known for having introduced the backless evening waistcoat.[7] It
was an innovation of the ‘dress soft’ era popularised by the Duke of Windsor.
The waistcoat was designed without a back and held in place by means of bands,
fastened with a buckle or button across the back at the waistline. When worn,
the waistcoat always remained in position under the tailcoat and was renowned
for its comfort. Fred Astaire allegedly approached Hawes & Curtis to have
one made, only to be regretfully refused due to the high demand for such
garments from the British aristocracy.[8]
According
to the Review of Savile Row Tailors, by the 1930s, "Mr. Curtis was an
authority in evening dress and had done more to keep shirts from bulging out of
up-creeping waistcoats than any other young man in London. Evening shirts and
waistcoats were made on scientific mathematical lines – yet were chic
withal."
Hawes &
Curtis also assisted the Duke of Windsor in creating his now famous Windsor
knot, by introducing an extra layer at the inside of the tie.[citation needed]
Notable
customers
Notable
customers have included Cary Grant, the Duke of Windsor, Earl Mountbatten Frank
Sinatra, and Fred Astaire.
How Hawes & Curtis built an online international
business
By Veebs
Sabharwal -February 12, 2015
Founded in
1913 and favoured by royalty, including the Duke of Windsor, an icon of English
style, Hawes & Curtis is a well-known Jermyn Street shirt-maker. Its
clientele has included Earl Mountbatten, Cary Grant and Fred Astaire. Over the
past century, the firm has built on its reputation for quality and service.
Today, it has twenty five UK stores, an overseas stores in Germany and a
franchise in the Middle East; its first store opened in Dubai last month.
Hawes &
Curtis realised that developing a successful e-commerce site would enable it to
extend its geographic reach as far as its reputation. For this to be effective,
the firm needed to ensure it could provide its online customers with the same
service and assurance that it offered within its stores.
Head of
e-Commerce Antony Comyns joined Hawes & Curtis in 2007 with a brief to
build Hawes & Curtis‘ online business. Seeing that overseas customers
readily used the firm‘s UK site, Antony took an evolutionary approach to
developing international sales. Monitoring the source of overseas, he
investigated and invested increasing amounts in those markets that offered the
greatest opportunity.
The first
step was to ensure that goods could be shipped safely and quickly to customers
who purchased them.
Understanding
local requirements and preferences for online shopping and for shipping was
important. Countries have different postal and courier services as well as
different address formats.
There are
also varied levels of comfort with using an English-language site. Russia has
become Hawes & Curtis‘ second largest international market and the firm was
surprised to find that bloggers had translated all the important sections of
the site to help fellow Russians use it. The firm rewarded the bloggers
concerned with shirts and accessories to say thank you.
Once
Comyns‘ team had optimised the service that customers can get from the .co.uk
site, a local site was created. Currently, Hawes & Curtis has dedicated
sites for Australia and Germany.
Comyns
explains, “Our initial aim for 2007, the year we launched our online store, was
to see if we could take a million pounds online. We achieved that in the first
year and we‘ve been increasing the range and growing the business since then.” Hawes & Curtis started offering PayPal as
a payment method, three years ago.
“PayPal has
amazing reach,” explains
Antony, “and it is used
by a range of upmarket sites. Customers accept it as safe and secure. A lot of
people respect the brand, and it‘s easy to use.
Especially
when selling internationally, you need to have some points on your website that
build customers‘ confidence. One of those is association with a trusted brand –
PayPal is one of the biggest payments brands that people will know. Hawes &
Curtis may mean very little to a man sitting in the middle of America, but they
will know PayPal. That gives them the security they need to complete their
purchase.”
Equally
important for customers is ease of use. As Comyns points out, “With PayPal,
customers know the ‘rules‘. They don‘t need to read a new set of rules with
each merchant; they know they can easily make a secure payment with PayPal.”
Businesses
often find that offering PayPal as a payment method increases conversion rates
at check-out. Enabling customers to pay in their local currency has also
boosted sales.
Hawes &
Curtis‘ online business has grown strongly. Today, 25% of its business is
conducted online. 45% of the online business is international and Hawes &
Curtis now sells to over 50 different countries.
“The
service we get from PayPal is really very, very good,” says Antony, “and it is easy
to push out in a new market. Having one payment service provider that covers a
lot of countries and is quick and easy to integrate across all devices is
absolutely key for our expansion.
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