Tailoring for Women

I’ve already written several times about one of my favourite networking organisations, the City Women’s Network. And last week I finally got to give a presentation at one of their regular meetings. In fact it was a forum about how to develop a global aspect to your business. These days, it’s not just multinational companies that can operate globally. Even a small, specialist trade like mine can – in fact needs – a global dimension. And of course it’s now possible thanks to the internet.

I was one of a panel of four speakers. You can read about the others here. They all had legal or commercial backgrounds so at first felt I might be rather out of place, talking about my very specialised craft. But when I started to mull it over, I hit on the idea of looking at the issue in reverse.

Most people think of ‘globalisation’ in terms of establishing a presence on every continent. But my kind of globalisation is about bringing the world to my doorstep. I was reminded of a quote by my famous countryman, Ralph Waldo Emerson: ‘If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap than his neighbour, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door’.

I was able to relate how important it was for specialist crafts to group together when marketing to clients globally. TfW has alliances with specialist shoemakers, hat makers, and even gunsmiths. But the big difference between our respective trades and most global brands is that we offer something unique to every client. A can of coke is the same in every corner of the globe, but a TfW suit is unique to the person wearing it.

It was flattering that everyone had favourable comments, mostly responding to the visuals of colour, texture and the look of quality in the products. I had shown images of a hand made shotgun, a set of shoe lasts and broadened my talk to include taking craft global. In Britain, there is an authentic tradition of proper training in these crafts. Support of the ancient guilds and titled craftsmen are renowned.  This attracts clients from all over the world.

I explained how the brand is not the item, but the person – the maker; and how that develops through one’s professional relationships with individual clients. An important part of the bespoke tradition is the degree to which a client may participate in the conceptualizing and creation of a unique luxury product. And in talking with colleagues in companies such as Jaeger or Holland & Holland, bespoke is becoming the new luxury experience and ownership means not just buying the product but buying into its creation.

The audience was intrigued with how different my business was to theirs – TfW is not about putting a widget on every coffee table in the world, the opposite in fact. But it was a good fit for the forum.

This recent edition of Monocle (note the tailor on the cover!) contained news that might raise the spirits of craftspeople all over.  Its feature “Craft makes a comeback \Welcome Home” highlights a recent trend for manufacturers to bring their production units back to their home roots and values.  We have seen this happening with other outsourced services too such as call centres.  The reasons cited in this case were twofold; the difficulty in  monitoring and maintaining quality, and soaring logistical costs.

Good news perhaps for all the highly trained craftspeople ‘back home’, and in particular for those in Savile Row which has been hit over the years by a popular misconception that price was the sole determining factor in purchasing a suit.  Depite this homeward bound trend however, there seems still to be have been a recent burst of activity from internet-based suit makers with their own version of bespoke garments manufactured on the other side of the world … it would seem that now even the term bespoke has to be redefined according to the Advertising Standards Authority .

From my daily meanderings through the Square Mile I must admit to having some reservations about the final outcome of these cyber suits.  ‘Distance learning’ is one thing, ‘distance fitting’ quite another.

In this inspiring  article in Monocle, I was particularly taken by the comments made by Martin Frechen, MD of Steiff Teddy Bears (yes…teddy bears!), whose manufacturing base transfers from China back to Germany in 2009.  Clearly passionate about his product he says,

“It has to say take me in your arms, hug me, I’m  here for you, I’m your best friend.  It’s that lifelikeness and friendliness that gives the animals soul, that sets it apart from everybody else on the market.  This can only be achieved with talented and skilful craftsmen.”   This may sound a bit hokey, but I think it is much the same experience a client wants from a hand crafted suit.”

Unfortunately, for copyright reasons I can’t show a copy of the complete article, but it might be worth getting a copy whilst stocks last.

Image:  Thanks to Monocle.  www.monocle.com