December 12, 2005
savile row death-knell
Another article appeared today sounding the death-knell for Savile Row. This time it was in the Financial Times [Reg. required].
Heh. English Cut and all the other tailors I know are doing fine. Demand for suits is generally greater than supply. We’re even thinking of putting a moratorium on new customers after Christmas.
If the designer labels want Savile Row as their address, no big deal. It’s just real estate– the tailors can always go somewhere else. What matters more is the customers, the quality of the work, the traditions and the training of apprentices.
When real estate becomes a liability …
If the designer labels want Savile Row as their address, no big deal. It’s just real estate– the tailors can always go somewhere else. gapingvoid
Well, Saville Row is a famous old brand …
Why don’t you guys (i.e., traditional SR tailors) club together and get a freehold, to have the address and continue the heritage?
If you completely separate a heritage from the place where it grew up, it nearly always does damage to the heritage. You lose the community. I know you can preserve the community online and so on, but you definitely lose certain things. What about the apprenticeship system, which must be the basis for the long-term survival of the traditions? Will it work as well if there isn’t an actual Row anymore?
The marketing stuff matters too. Look at the struggle there has been in the food world over use of regional names.
Anyway, English Cut’s marketing is in safe hands whatever happens!