MARCH 27,
2020
Coronavirus
Update
The
government has now implemented a package of measures to help businesses
throughout the coronavirus crisis. These measures include a three-month rent
moratorium for retailers, support in paying employees’ wages and a 12-month
business rates holiday.
Due to the
coronavirus crisis, our members and neighbouring businesses have now closed
their premises to customers until further notice.
Please note
that a number of our members do offer online shopping services, some of which
remain open for business.
Our members
are adhering to World Health Organisation and local authorities' advice
regarding the coronavirus situation to ensure the well-being of their
customers, suppliers and staff.
And we are
all working together to ensure that Savile Row emerges from this very difficult
period in good shape and continues to operate as the unique street that it is.
We hope
that you and your loved ones are safe and well at this time. And thank you for
your support and understanding.
SEE ALSO:
Tailoring in a socially distanced retail world
COVID-19
Navigating the crisis | Pierre LaGrange on leading
Huntsman Savile Row through COVID-19
20/05/2020
The
Chairman of historic tailors Huntsman Savile Row since 2013, Pierre LaGrange is
the latest luxury leader to discuss the impact of lockdown on the business –
and why the tailors’ core values of ‘discreet luxury, timelessness, style over
fashion, personal attention, handcrafted individual creations and
sustainability’ are more desirable than ever…
HOW ARE YOU
NAVIGATING YOUR BUSINESS THROUGH THE CURRENT COVID-19 CRISIS?
We have
sent everyone home. Those who could have kitted out their garages, even childhood
bedrooms, as improvised cutting/sewing rooms, so we would not let our customers
down on existing orders. They will be ready for their fittings when the
customers can come to us, or us to them! The customers have been
extraordinarily supportive and our sales team (none of whom are furloughed) are
in constant communication with them.
We have
launched a few creative initiatives, such as the Design Your Own Tweed creation
and the Literary competition, giving people something fun to do at home.
Clients loved this. We also dug into our ‘hall of fame’ clientele and promoted
some of our client’s films for movie nights with the family. Rediscovering how
relevant Sam Goldwyn’s Best Years of Our Lives from 1946 is was a highlight of
our communication. In tune with our clients’ mood, we moved our focus onto what
we all need to get the most out of confinement, knowing things may not be the
same for quite a long time.
WHAT HAS
THE SITUATION TAUGHT YOU ABOUT LEADERSHIP?
More than
ever, everyone needs to understand why they matter; why they are asked to
perform various tasks and why the process is such – as these extraordinary
times require imagination to solve never-encountered-before problems.
Collaborative
management is unearthing amazing results, with everyone helping each other as
we all have to survive the external shock – there is no time for working in
isolation.
AND WHAT
HAS IT TAUGHT YOU ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS?
I have
amazing and resourceful people working here – even more than I thought – which has provided some great surprises. But
as the business revenues drew to a halt very quickly – most of our business is
bespoke with one-to-one physical interactions – the cash burn is big. So one
had to consider what was the relevance of what we do on the other side. Were we
in the winning camp, or becoming obsolete? Well, we think our core values of
discreet luxury, timelessness, style over fashion, personal attention,
handcrafted individual creations and sustainability are more desirable than
ever. Remember, bespoke has delivered experiential retail beyond the purchase
of a product for centuries. How to deliver that experience to our clients is a
new challenge, but the core attraction is alive and well. Affordability will
need to be addressed, and we are lucky to have taken the initiative last year
for a new approach to bespoke, offering a full Savile Row bespoke at what
others charge for inferior, less fitting made-to-measure products. Furthermore,
we will soon be announcing our ‘On Account’ house credit initiative, a modern
take on layaway!
HOW ARE YOU
– AND THE WIDER BUSINESS – SUPPORTING YOUR PEOPLE?
We are a
large family, with shared values of solidarity and pride in our work. We had
been doing Zoom management meetings since last year, convinced of the importance
of getting together live on a screen when not able to physically, so we were
prepared. We now have extended this to social occasion, from Zoom bake-off,
quiz, prosecco pong, and next – Zoom karaoke! On these calls, we spend most of
our time on social non-work related chats, yet there is always a good idea
popping up for the business.
WHAT DO YOU
SEE AS THE POTENTIAL LONG-LASTING CHANGES TO YOUR BUSINESS?
Needs must;
it forced us to put on the front burner projects related to how we serve our
clients, mixing traditional bespoke personal service with technology. Operating
with a portion of our workforce on furlough, we have been able to reap some
significant productivity enhancements, so when people come back, we will be
able to leverage that. I told my team to imagine themselves in six months
looking back on this extraordinary period given to them, a time suspension
where one can do stuff they never had the time to when stuck in the grind of
regular activity: don’t miss your confinement!
HOW ARE
YOU, ON A PERSONAL LEVEL, DEALING WITH LOCKDOWN?
I feel
blessed to be healthy and to have had the extraordinary event of my fourth
child born mid-April. Every time I am looking at her, I remember how much I
missed of that time with my older children as I was always out of the house
then! I love watching how my bigger kids have grown internally in confinement,
making them better people, getting the time to focus on what matters!
How Savile Row’s Tailors Are Planning for Life (and
Business) After the Pandemic
Benedict
Browne
May 14,
2020, 6:30 PM GMT+2
It’s no
secret that Savile Row has been in a precarious situation for several years.
Changing tastes and rising rents have revealed cracks in the bastion of
tailored menswear. Now that Covid-19 is reshaping the world as we know it,
those cracks could prove fatal. Yet, in a typically stoic, stiff-upper-lip
British way, Savile Row remains surprisingly sanguine. It’s still operating to
the best of its abilities, despite the circumstances, and is readying the
broadside to come out of this all guns blazing. Now more than ever, we need to
rally behind it.
The
prevailing issue on Savile Row has always been business rates, such as property
taxes and rents imposed by a handful of landlords. According to Anda Rowland,
Director of Anderson & Sheppard, the landlords “don’t take into account
bespoke tailoring’s relatively low margins.” It’s an opinion shared by Simon
Cundey, Managing Director of Henry Poole, who says the landlords “set a
precedent for us with these rates and it’s scary as hell. Even before this
situation, we were thinking ‘What on Earth is this?’ and we could see some
businesses pulling out.” Both companies have the largest workforces on The
Row—31 for Anderson & Sheppard and 45 for Poole. If they’re finding it
difficult, it should give some indication of how the smaller houses are faring.
To make
matters worse, it’s an increasingly challenging time for all British businesses
as the US increased tariffs on exports by 25 percent last year. Furthermore,
with the continuous relaxing of corporate dress codes (Goldman Sachs now simply
asks employees to “exercise good judgment” each morning before coming to work),
there’s less need for an expansive wardrobe of suits for work. This should
merely mean that tailoring businesses must evolve and adapt to changing needs,
but sadly some didn’t receive the memo.
Last year
Savile Row’s Hardy Amies and Chester Barrie both closed down for a mixture of
reasons, including financial hardships, creative differences and an inability
to get in sync with the times. A heavier-hitting blow was issued earlier this
year, though, with the announcement that Kilgour was closing. “It’s horrible.
It’s absolutely horrible,” reflects Cundey on the house that’s contributed to
the allure of The Row since 1880. That’s brought the tally up to 13 empty shops
on Savile Row—a street not much longer than 500 feet. Landlords shouldn’t be
blamed entirely, but the rates are largely considered unsustainable for craft
businesses and give little incentive for newer, more agile houses to set up
shop.
Unsurprisingly,
social distancing measures and government protocol resulted in shops closing
and trunk shows being canceled or postponed. However, it’s not all doom and
gloom as Savile Row is still fulfilling orders, to a degree. “Production hasn’t
been affected and is still ongoing and we remain in daily contact with the
team,” Richard Anderson says of his eponymous house. It’s the same situation at
Norton & Sons, where director Patrick Grant says that they’ve “closed the
store for the first time in over half a century, but our sewing tailors are still
working from improvised workrooms in their homes.” Nimble as this setup is, it
has its limits. Since the teams can only work up to a basted fitting, the final
product will still have to wait until social distancing measures ease up. And,
naturally, new clients can’t be fit. But if you’re an existing customer, you
can support your tailor by placing an order. At the very least, it’s promising
that there’s still work to be done for these skilled craftspeople—many of whom
are self-employed, independent contractors.
At Cad
& The Dandy and Huntsman, it’s a different situation, as both have been
contributing to the Covid-19 effort by producing PPE equipment. James Sleater,
owner of Cad, tells us they’ve received innumerable requests from hospices, ICU
nurses and general practitioners in desperate need of medical apparel. “We have
12 coat-makers making about 150 scrubs a day,” he informs us. Not only is this
noble work but it boosts the in-house morale. It’s also a small step in
galvanizing The Row together, which is vital for their collective well-being.
As Sleater puts it, if Savile Row aims to survive it will have to be through
“strength in numbers.”
With The
Row’s business owners now at home, they’ve been alleviated of their usual
hectic days and can look ahead. Henry Poole is working on releasing an entirely
new concept that will diversify its collection with additions unlike anything
else in its plus-200-year history. “We are broadening the offering with a
different type of soft canvassing that gets you to the Neapolitan type of
lightness. You still get the Poole silhouette, just without the weight. It’s
totally different,” says Cundey. Meanwhile, Richard Anderson says that “this
period has given us the time to think about new designs for autumn; where our
signature safari jacket has been reworked from a never-before-seen Prince of
Wales check fabric.”
On the home
turf, change was already afoot before the pandemic. Last year, Drake’s opened a
new store on The Row and J.P. Hackett moved into the old Hardy Amies building.
“They were the best candidate to take over. It’s a full maison,” Cundey notes
of Hackett’s new vision. Ciffonelli also planted its tricolor flag around the
corner, and Thom Sweeney is on track to open a 3,100 square foot bespoke and
ready-to-wear store in the autumn, complete with a barbershop and cocktail bar.
All of these names have a clearly defined aesthetic and engaged clientele,
which will no doubt help draw people to The Row even more.
Menswear
stylist and journalist Tom Stubbs was recently appointed as Savile Row Attaché
by The Pollen Estate, the largest landlord in the area, who’ve given him the
keys to 31 Savile Row and tasked him with injecting the street with new energy.
“I’m calling it a creative atelier,” he says of the new space, and he’s working
on several ideas—exhibitions, pop-ups, events, you name it—to help diversify
The Row and increase its appeal. “We need to get some interesting stuff in
there, and that’s what I am going to do.” Top of his list is rehousing Kilgour,
saying “We must keep that bloodline going.” He’s also going to house Dobrik
& Lawton, a new tailoring house with razor-sharp lines and a healthy amount
of attitude and he’s in talks with Bianca Saunders, a rising star in the next
generation of young British designers. With 25 brands in total (which aren’t
exclusively British) on his list, everything he’s planning will nod towards The
Row’s tradition but with a distinctly contemporary approach.
Regenerating
The Row doesn’t end with new tailors and brands, as Stubbs is working on
bringing food and drink into the equation. It’s an aim shared by his peers: “It
needs to be fun! We need to have a great bar that serves coffee in the morning
and cocktails in the evening. We need a barbershop or a proper newsagent,” says
Rowland. Sleater agrees: “Savile Row needs an offering of lifestyle
entertainment,” noting nearby Mount Street’s success in marketing a street with
inviting bars with outdoor seating and floral displays.
When it
comes to London’s tailoring scene, so long as it survives the storm of
Covid-19, it seems that there’s plenty to be excited about in the near future.
The crisis will, however, change our attitudes towards everything from how we
consume to what we consume. “I think people will value craft and localism more
than ever before in a post-coronavirus world,” says Grant. The current
situation is teaching us to value and cherish the things that may have
previously taken for granted, and many of those things can be found on The Row.
All we need to do is show up.
