What is the state of craftsmanship on Savile Row today?
I think it’s very healthy, largely because — and I can take no credit for this — the big houses on Savile Row have continued to train a tremendous number of tailors and cutters. There continue to be tailors who have been trained by master tailors, who have been trained by master tailors, going back [to] way before the tailors moved to Savile Row. Tailoring in London is over 700 years old, but Savile Row has been the centre of tailoring for men in London for close to a couple hundred years. We’re very fortunate that these firms were big, strong and financially sound to the extent that they have survived every significant financial downturn in recent record, including the Great Depression, and continued to prosper. Now of course, post-WWII, with the rise of Burtons and the multiples, the business has declined in size. But the great thing about Savile Row, and why Savile Row survives and thrives where other pockets of craft have failed, is the strength in numbers and the complete eco-syst
