March 5, 2010

in with the new....

(apprentices, jamie ling, ethan bamkin)

Well I asked for your support and we certainly got it. We've been inundated with wonderfully kind request to take part in our apprenticeship scheme. As I'd hoped we've had more offers than we can accept. In fact without doing a mass email it'll take us a long time to reply to everyone who kindly wrote to us.

I hope you can accept our sincere gratitude by thanking you on English Cut. So many people seem to be ideal for Ethan that we've basically decided to put all the names in a hat and draw out the lucky four people. I'm sorry if this seems a little peculiar but it seems the fairest and most straight forward way.

We'll be in touch within the next few days to let our four patrons arrange a convenient time to be measured. I'm pleased to let you know that our dates are confirmed for our next trip to the United States and we have our tickets for our spring visit in April. Our full itinerary can be found here.

As I said we're soon to have a little makeover which we hope you'll like. However I though it only fair to introduce you to Jamie and Ethan who are of course part of the future of English Cut. You may remember my dear old MG that I used to drive. Well I need something with a little more room. So here's some of the gang with my new old friend a Great British Land Rover.You'll not see it down Savile Row too often as it's not a city type. Of course it's green and although 30 years old it's strong and reliable. Also the other benefit is that after this snap was taken seven of us all went for lunch at the local instead of two.

(some of english cut, Paul & his good wife amanda, jenni, jamie and ethan)

After the response for our discounted suits it's obvious that there are a lot of people who want to take a step up the sartorial ladder but can't quiet financially stretch that far just yet, especially with Savile Row pricing. With that in mind our US and European customers can find some very tempting offers with the weak British Pound.

I have noticed that my friend Jonathan Quearney is traveling very shortly and offering very good value. This may be a good opportunity for people to try the delights of bespoke for the first time.

Thank you all once again for your support for the crafts future. With so little time and so much to do we'll say adieu and talk soon.

Posted by tom at 4:47 PM | Comments (0)

February 24, 2010

fancy one of these....

(ready for buttonholes and final finishing)

I hope the answer to this post is "yes". Who wouldn't like to have a hand made garment crafted entirely for you from start to finish?

The truth is most of us would love that luxury, especially me. But as I've said before I'm too busy looking after everyone else's sartorial dreams to fulfill my own. Sadly, God never made enough time for tailoring beautiful clothes. The answer of course is to make time by finding extra skilled hands. This as you can imagine is the problem. We're a rare bunch us tailors and we're a long time in the making.

However, I have three good bits of news for you. Firstly our trouser apprentice has completed her first year working with Peter who makes 99% of my trousers. This he makes a beautiful job of if I say so myself. Secondly, I am on my third apprentice vying to take over my shears and dare I say it, this may be third time lucky.

(Hugh getting the point)

My good friend Hugh MaCleod of Gapingvoid has heard me lament over the years about my search for someone to take up the shears. When we last met for a good drink and catch up he listened to me, then rummaged in his bag and presented me with this fantastic cartoon. As Hughe's famous for he got it straight away and this said it all. This is a lovely business but the hours locked in the workroom have dashed the hopes of many people who only want the glamorous side of the business and want it quick. Learning something that's initially lowly paid and very hard work does not sit well on today's young shoulders.

I'm feeling pretty confident about my new "striker" that I'll be taking him to America with me this spring. Besides, who wants to travel with a beautiful female assistant all the time. I ended up marrying the last one:)

All joke's aside we can only make the craft survive if we invest in it. Now this I'm quite obviously doing because apprentices simply cost money and you hope you'll have your return in some distant future. Now I'm going to ask you, to be exact only four of you to invest in the crafts future also.

You may be wondering how the unknown fab four will be able to do this? Well I did say that I had three bits of good news, Well here's the plan.

Within the next couple of weeks I'll be posting my US itinerary for this April. I will be visiting my usual four cities but not taking on any new clients in Atlanta or Chicago:( However I'll continue with San Francisco and New York and will be happy to meet all my existing clients and new customers if the diary allows. Atlanta and Chicago are two of my favourite cities but to keep up with my regular clients in the US I can give better service by just concentrating on San Francisco and New York. In future I hope I can tempt my Atlanta and Chicago clients to meet me in New York or San Francisco. Many people panicked because they thought that I said that I would not be traveling to the US any more. However I said I will be continuing to travel regularly to the US but on shorter trips concentrating on my existing clients.

Now this is how you can help. I know that our clothes are worth every penny and by all accounts our prices are very reasonable. However to commission a bespoke suit is a serious investment. To put it simply most people can not yet afford the cost of such luxury no matter how good an investment it may be.

(a plate from one of my old college books)

What I'd like to offer is four suits to be commissioned, two in San Francisco and two in New York. These four suits will be offered at the very heavily discounted price of £1450.00 ($2,238.00 approx). These will be cut and made here in our workshops using the same quality of workmanship and materials. However the only difference is that these will be measured and cut by my apprentice Ethan. The coat will be made by Paul and the trousers by Jamie our other apprentice. I will of course be overseeing this every step of the way and the lucky individuals will have a very beautiful suit to wear for years to come. Normally apprentices are kept hidden away and then sprung on an unsuspecting full price paying client when their "Guvnor" thinks they're good enough or even worse if they think they can get away with it.

Now I'm sure we'll have plenty of takers for this but to be fair apprentices are young and ideally I'd prefer someone who was also new to the world of bespoke. Hopefully this could be the start of a long relationship. We don't want any deadlines. This is for people to learn, both student and client. As I always say this is a process to be enjoyed and not rushed.

So if you want to be one of these young guns first clients drop us a line and we'll fit you in. Remember this isn't just a discounted suit. This is the real deal every step of the way but you'll be investing in the crafts future and the possibility of me putting my feet up one day.

Englishcut.com is in the process of having a makeover so I'll introduce you to the apprentices soon as we have our fresh photos. Remember, Ethan will only measure two people in San Francisco and two in New York. Please don't be disappointed if he cannot see you on this occasion.

I hope to do something similar here in the the UK so please get in touch.

Posted by tom at 3:00 PM | Comments (1)

January 25, 2010

well i never...

(chairman of the board with jeans)

The picture above may give you an idea about how comfortable bespoke is. This gentleman is a client of mine who popped in to see me to re-order.

I was a little surprised to see he was wearing his last suit minus the trousers. As you can see he was in jeans and casual shoes. Wearing a classic grey worsted coat and waistcoat with jeans is something I'd never of considered. But I had to admit I thought he looked extremely comfortable and relaxed, yet very stylish.

Worked well I thought. What do you think?

Posted by tom at 3:55 PM | Comments (7)

January 13, 2010

little spitfires.....

(Lucky me and my brilliant instructor)

I thought I should write a quick note to explain something which has been confusing some of my clients recently. You see every time we send out a new suit or jacket we pack it with a compliments slip. This of course is pretty normal. However, on the corner of the compliment slip we pin a little pewter Spitfire.

(one of our compliment slips)

As our clients will know this is our company logo. The main reason is as I said earlier. I have had the very good fortune to take the controls of this beautiful war bird a while ago and got to fly her one sunny afternoon. This is thanks to the help of a very good friend who realised my love of this beautiful aircraft.

As a little thank you to the bravery of the pilots and all of the Royal Air Force we like to support their memorial fund. This we do by purchasing these lovely Spitfire lapel badges. We don't expect you to wear them but if they make you pause for a moment of appreciation then that will be enough.

Posted by tom at 3:58 PM | Comments (0)

January 4, 2010

irreplaceable.....

(Ron and Pat on one of our English Cut parties)

I would like to wish all of our readers our very best wishes for the new year. Sadly the start of 2010 has been marked with the loss of a very dear friend and colleague, Mr Ron Hardy.

Ron has been working for Edwin and I for the last thirteen years. He has been in the tailoring trade all of his life and sadly passed away at the untimely age of only 67. Until last summer Ron was working full time as hard as ever. Apart from the huge loss to his partner, Pat and their family. His amazing skill and patients will be a great loss to our trade.

(An example of Ron's work)

Ron has made for many clients who have recognised his wonderful skill in making their clothes over the years. Recently you may remember the beautiful overcoats that Ron made for some of my clients. I hope our friends who were fortunate enough to own some of these pieces will treasure these truly rare and outstanding garments. These of course were only a tiny example of Ron's huge contribution to this very special trade.

One look at at some of our friends work confirms the outstanding beautiful skill that so much reflects the man. Ron's calmness and unflappable patience has helped not only myself but everyone who was fortunate enough to know Ron.

We have all lost a wonderfully kind and witty man who will be extremely missed by all who knew him. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this sad time.

Posted by tom at 7:46 PM | Comments (2)

December 31, 2009

see you next year....

As you can probably gather my pile of work has kept me pretty quiet. It's been a very busy but enjoyable year for us all here at English Cut.

As this was my first Christmas as a married man. I had to prove myself with the festive roast for our family and friends whom we'd invited to our snow covered home. I must admit that cooking a 20lb turkey in our Aga for 13hrs was pretty nerve wracking. However, as I was told, all was well and I relaxed in the knowledge that I'd performed my Christmas duties.

(the local scenery)

I'm very much looking forward to next year and I hope to make some interesting additions to English Cut which I hope you'll enjoy. I know some of our readers have already arrived into 2010 but before we nip down to our local for the evening. I'd like to wish a you all a very happy and prosperous 2010.

Thank you all again for your wonderful support and all your very kind wishes to both Claire and I. Until next year, best wishes to you all.

Posted by tom at 7:13 PM | Comments (1)

November 30, 2009

the flood....

(this will keep me quiet)

The winter sun has finally returned to poor old rain battered Cumbria. My lovely county has had a pretty awful couple of weeks with rain and floods. When I returned from the United States I had to meet clients in London and hardly seemed to have caught my breath since I left home. We had a super trip, all went well and we've been blessed with plenty of work to keep me quiet on these dark winter nights. It's going to take me the next few weeks simply re-cutting the work that I tried on whilst on my trip. It takes longer than you'd think to check my notes re-cut the clothes and check every pattern. Cloth is like fluid but if you're diligent with it you can eventually get it to work your way.

I know some of my clients may gasp with worry when they see this apparently random pile but worry not. These clothes are far stronger than you think and believe it or not I do have an order to this collection of sartorial commissions.

Left alone I'll slowly but surely get through this and enjoy every minute of it. I really don't think I'd care to be working full time in London any more. To try to concentrate with all sorts of distraction just wouldn't work for me. Of course the fellows on the Row manage fine and like everything in life, what must be done, will be done. I'm glad to be in our little tailoring haven here in the quiet north.

(spots before your eyes)

I thought you may like this picture. Paul is making a fitting for a local client here at the Hall. As you know we match the checks and stripes on our jettings. This we also do even on plainer fabrics as we are here with this birdseye. It's totally unnecessary and matching those dots isn't easy, that's all Paul will see when he's trying to sleep tonight.

(even with the darts it looks lovely)

I know this extra effort will be scoffed at by the words finest tailors but to Paul and all of us here it matters. I suppose that's why we are English Cut.

Posted by tom at 5:29 PM | Comments (1)