Dudley .. I don't see how cutting costs which don't factor into the quality of product could ever be a bad idea. I believe a significant proportion of bespoke customers feel that current prices are too expensive, which explains why many have branched out into MTM services, this isn't just about cutting down waiting times. If costs are cut then the savings could be passed onto the customer or the profit margins of the business could be beefed up, or a combination of both. It still makes sense.
Beeston .. I'm the non management type of person. CEO & management pay is a scandal, management of corporations in Europe and the US have looted their companies. The fact that businesses are no longer owner managed and that ownership is fragmented amongst financial institutions who don't care about long term performance has enabled them to do so. Result .. corporate decay, and a long term economic rot which western society is now having to come to terms with.
Do you work in a basement? When walking along Brook Street one can often see these poor souls, slaving away in front of computas, no proper daylight, in shirtsleeves...
Same goes for art dealers. Couldnt Colnaghi move to Thamesmead?
Pantomime season is here.
^ O no it is not!
exactly .. you would have to be particularly daft to be ok with paying away a large component of cost to a property landlord. the fact that property prices in central London, especially in the exclusive sought after neighbourhoods around Saville row, Jermyn street etc has been completely distorted means its even more crazy to situate a business hand making clothing. The rest of these streets seems increasingly to be taken up by hedge fund businesses and similar, but then they can afford it with their 2 and 20 model.
Last edited by dryplum (2013-12-29 05:51:39)
Most of the immediately foregoing is tosh. What Crompie and his crew are trying to persuade the world (especially the over-hopeful), makers is that there is a mass market out there for bespoke clothes. This is just so wrong. Always has been a limited market, for an exclusive clientele, with a discerning eye and plenty of Wonga or credit.
Part of the glory of the best London stuff is that it is so f***ing expensive that it makes most chavs' eyes water. And -
''Henry Poole, By Appointment etc etc. 879 Streatham High Road.''
Yeah. Right.
And another thing - it isn't the rent that's the real problem (some are owner-occupied anyway) - it's the business tax. Instead of supporting local British business Westminster and Camden LBs strangle them.
Finally, they all grumble and complain but there always have been the bonehead celebrities, 'top' crooked businessmen and bentest politicians that keep them going.
Last edited by Dudley Clarke (2013-12-29 07:14:43)
Savile Row is a brand.
Ohhh, the price of this and the price of that...
There are always things that are unattainable for the average Joe no matter how unfair and unjust it all is.
And the "corporations" find a way to mass produce them in a way that makes them hard, but not impossible to attain.
And the grumblers then chime with the emotionally appealing carps that a)corporations are ruining the craft, and b)they are stealing your hard earned money.
I for one love Apple computer, Cisco, Verizon, to which I owe the ability to participate on this forum. I love Audi and Jeep who transform my commute from a dreary waste of time to veritable moments of thrill and joy. I love Google who let the world know of my services, and I love all the airline corporations that allow people to fly thousands of miles to see me, and for me to see my family.
I love the Whole Foods corporation that brings me marvelous and exotic foods gluten free , trans free, organic this and that from all over the world, although I also spend a lot of time at Giant supermarkets, which as the name implies supply quantity goods, though not necessarily organic and gluten free...
But you get the point, I just love corporations and am an inveterate consumer of their products. Try living your life without their products.
Agree with most of that for sure, English tailors many of whom trained in the 60s/70s still suffer from the 'British disease' and moan and grumble about everything, especially money. Its a personality thing.
Personally, I can afford bespoke, not your 20 at a time suit orders, but as many things as I am required to wear in the course of my day to day life but I still resent paying property spivs (& greedy progressive councils + HMRC). The reason I drew attention to their location and prices in London anyway, is that I'm a financial analyst by trade and it has permeated my thinking about most things. the fact that many tailors have merged, blown up entirely, or perpetually change hands means that there is clearly a problem, it seems quite simple how to resolve the problem without cutting quality (which has happened to the shirt makers as discussed above). the latest casualty of a take over is huntsman .. anyone seen their new range of RTW stuff .. clearly roubi's been hard at work creating off the peg clothing for the euro trash oligarch market .. probably do quite well id imagine. now you can buy a black coat with a mink collar straight off the website for £3k.
http://www.h-huntsman.com/shop/men?sort_price=&filter_category%5B27%5D=27&filter_category%5B20%5D=20
Last edited by dryplum (2013-12-29 09:13:11)
Last edited by dryplum (2013-12-29 09:15:11)
you've got it .. & I would predict looking at this sort of gear that huntsman will not only survive, but actually prosper under Roubi. Its not going to be the same huntsman that hammick & co made which was aimed at pleasing the English aristocracy and their imitators, but maybe this approach was always destined to die in changing times.
Roubi along with his boyfriend mingle with an UHNW crowd and understand the demographic and apparently their tastes very well. I would cynically guess most are either hedge funders or foreign new money oligarchy and their scions. This is exactly how they dress. They think black is always sophisticated, everything is judged by reference to price (so might as well begin by jacking up a RTW clothes to double what they sold them for previously, in direct competition to prices just shy of most other bespoke .. must be just as good then, right?) & they love things like mink, ashkatran linings, collars etc.. Touches of pointless extravangance to show 'your worth it'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64RGjJCoGDg
Last edited by dryplum (2013-12-29 10:37:54)
Next step to really get your receivables row pumped .. start selling through Harrods, Selfridges, open a couple of free standing stores in Moscow, HK & perhaps next to Rubinaccis place in Almaty. Fuck it .. just license the brand with a line call 'Huntsman Jet Set' made in Guangdong and sell this through the supermarkets. It will be like going back to the Cool Britannia days when Tony told us we could all be rich!
Last edited by dryplum (2013-12-29 10:41:10)