Craft

The small world of Los Angeles men’s haberdashery

Yesterday I drove to Brooks Brothers in Beverly Hills to pick up some made-to-measure garments that needed adjustments. Naturally I got into a conversation with Victor, the salesman I work with at the store, and we started talking about bench tailors in Los Angeles. I mentioned that I only knew of two bespoke tailors in […]

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The human resources gap in men’s tailoring

There are two gaps actually: generational and geographical. The first gap is generational because the tailoring tradition has remained largely with the older generation as jobs and skills have migrated to “softer” more cognitive skills. Tailors are getting older and their replacements are virtually nowhere to be found. The second issue – the importing of

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Why blogs will change your business – and why they may not

There is an odd quixotic character to blogging. On the one hand, it seems to have revolutionized the very idea of publishing – think easy, accessible self-publishing anytime and anywhere. Think about a world in which every competitor, every customer or every partner could publish whatever he or she wants about your business and more

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The business behind blogging: Bespoke tailor sees sales lift

Here’s a merry statistic behind the buzz of blogs and the business they can potentially generate. According to fellow blogger Red Couch, Tom Mahon’s English Cut blog has created a 300% increase in new business in 10 weeks since posting his first blog entry at the beginning of 2005. The English Cut, if I’m not

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Savile Row and the winds of change

I came across a blog that mentioned an interesting Evening Standard article on the real estate and business model issues of today’s Savile Row. There’s no direct link to the ES website but the blog has links to the scanned article. Incidentally, the blogger in question is apparently one of Thomas Mahon’s friends/colleagues who convinced

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Bespoke in Beverly Hills: A visit to Jack Taylor’s

Prior to my visit to his shop today, I only had a handful of references to Jack Taylor’s. Flusser’s entry in Style and the Man describes Taylor’s cut as “British-inspired, with narrow shoulders, shaped torso, slant pockets, and deep vents”. A recent article on Mr. Taylor in the Los Angeles Times Magazine. It was a

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