The Coming Of Saville Row

Henry Herbert, The New Breed of Saville Row Visits Asia

Traditional yet modern, there is a new breed of English tailor coming out of Saville Row and its surroundings, take for example mobile tailor Henry Herbert, who offers a unique and speedy way to give customers the bespoke suit of their heart’s desire. Rather than spending big on a Savile Row shop front, Henry Herbert founder Charlie Bakercollingwood settled for an office space on the street with several other young tailors. He couldn’t bring clients there, so instead he went to them.

The business started in 2007 as a scooter-mounted bespoke shirt specialist, where Baker-collingwood took his scooter to visit clients at their offices or homes, branching out into suits a couple of years later. His brainwave of a marketing idea put pretty girls in bowlers outside of tube stations, which put his business on the map.

Like many upstart tailors, Bakercollingwood has a new way of thinking about his customers. He says men are increasingly turning to bespoke suits for weddings and, because they don’t need to wear a suit to work, buying one has become more special.

‘Google was our shop window at the time,’ he adds. He dubbed the service ‘Savile Row by scooter’, and promoted the fact his tailors could visit anywhere across the UK.

In 2016, Baker-collingwood opened a showroom in Bloomsbury. He says ‘a good 50%’ of his customers still opt for scooter visits, and his team of tailors armed with measuring tapes, fabric swatches and scooters still whizz around London to visit clients.

Today, a significant number of Henry

Herbert’s clients come from outside of London; 15% are from the US, 10% from Asia and 5% from Africa; which accounts for their recent trunk show to Asia, where company tailors and cutters met with customers in Singapore, Myanmar and Hong Kong, in comfortable luxurious surroundings, catching-up with new and old customers, and to place new orders or browse through cloth books in search of style advice.

What if you could have the finest, English made custom suit, crafted by the finest Bespoke Tailors in Savile Row, London, without having to travel beyond Asia? Recognising that many of their refined clients are from Asia, they decided to make things easier on their international friends by creating a unique experience from within their own cities, a handful of times per year.

As their Managing Director, Charlie Baker-collingwood, said. “Whether you’re seeking advice on style or cloth, would like to arrange a fitting or browse our ready to wear collection, need an alteration or repairs made, our client managers and cutters have the expertise to meet your every need.”

“And, as we say to all customers”, he continued, “There are no rules, just preferences when it comes to style”.