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| Anderson & Sheppard: Part II by Delia von Neuschatz Not only did Anderson & Sheppard’s established customers make the pilgrimage to the new digs on Old Burlington Street, but new ones began arriving at a faster clip. So, to what is this re-invigorated popularity owed? There are several reasons for the uptick in business, but the lion’s share of the credit has to go to the firm’s director and owner, Anda Rowland, who has managed to successfully combine an abiding respect for tradition with a forward-looking ethos. Anda, whose father, maverick business mogul Roland “Tiny” Rowland had bought Anderson & Sheppard in the 1970s, left an executive position in Paris at Parfums Christian Dior a few years after her father’s death to take over the reins at Anderson & Sheppard. (Her family owns an 80% stake in the business with the remainder going to several cutters and managers.) |
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| Despite the firm’s enviable longevity, when Anda arrived in 2004, she had her work cut out for her. Not only did she have to preside over the impending move to the shop’s new location (the lease for which had already been signed by the firm’s directors), but she had to address some glaring shortcomings on the marketing and accounting fronts. For one thing, Anderson & Sheppard didn’t have a website. For another, there was some £500,000 (or about $750,000) in outstanding invoices, several which were more than six months old. Incredibly, the accounting system hadn’t changed since the 1920s and some customers took advantage of the firm’s gentlemanly ways by actually providing fake addresses and phone numbers so as to evade payment. “The craft of tailoring,” says Anda, “is very backward looking and this bleeds into accounting, PR, everything.” |
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| Now, there’s a user-friendly, informative website (complete with a film and blog, no less) and a fully updated bookkeeping system. Other changes include a shop with an inviting interior where customers are allowed, even encouraged, to visit the cutting room, something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. In a break with the past, nowadays there’s also a much greater willingness to talk to the press and tout the uniqueness of the craft. The recent publication of lushly illustrated books such as Graydon Carter’s clothbound Anderson & Sheppard: A Style is Born, have helped spread the word. Industry insiders have also banded together forming the Savile Row Bespoke Association and holding events like men’s fashion shows in an effort to protect and promote their craft. |
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| So what effect has all this had on the bottom line at 32 Old Burlington Street? A pretty good one indeed. Anda reeled off some numbers: sales climbed from £2.3 million (or about $3.5 million) in 2005 to £4.1 million (or about $6 million) in 2012. That’s pretty remarkable considering that the firm does no advertising. There just isn’t a budget for it as the profit margins are slim. |
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| Anda reveals that about 40% of the cost of making a suit goes towards labor and materials. And then, there’s the overhead. All told, A&S makes a profit of only 10% -15% on each suit. “With bespoke, it’s just impossible to make a great return,” remarks Anda. This is all very different from the cosmetics industry in which she had previously worked. There, “there was a lot of gloss, a lot of profit and not much in the products. It was just a question of branding with most of the cosmetics being made by one or two manufacturers,” she notes. At Anderson & Sheppard, by contrast, “there’s a lot of product and not much gloss.” With every suit being a limited edition of one, economies of scale are certainly not at play here. Despite the lack of advertising, new customers have been coming in at the impressive rate of about four per week. Is this all due to the higher industry profile? “No,” says Anda. “The world is re-focusing on quality and values. People are looking beyond marketing. They want to learn and to connect. They want to know where something is made, where the material comes from and in this era of mass manufacturing, they want hand-made things. In that sense, A&S has become modern again.” |
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| Asian customers in particular are looking for authentic products and prize British heritage brands. The sophisticated among them are especially attracted to firms like Anderson & Sheppard because it is British-owned and one of only a few remaining Savile Row tailors whose suits are made entirely by its own staff of cutters and tailors. Asian customers are turned off, explains Anda, by companies that have distribution in China. In a sign of the times, several venerable Savile Row establishments such as Gieves & Hawkes and Hardy Amies have been snapped up by Chinese retail giant Trinity. For the well-dressed man who is not ready or willing to plunk down several thousand dollars for a new suit, Anderson & Sheppard has another option. Last year, it opened a charming new haberdashery just around the corner at 17 Clifford Street which introduces people to the brand in a more relaxed way with a colorful assortment of gently-priced male must-haves including ready-made trousers, jackets and sweaters (“jumpers” in Brit-speak). |
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| What about women? Is it fair to have all these nice accessories and things for men only? Would A&S ever branch into women’s clothing, I asked Anda? “No,” was her unequivocal reply. “Menswear is the hot topic in fashion today. Fifty percent of clothing sold in Britain is for men. They are spending more on themselves, particularly Asian men.” |
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| Despite the lack of women’s fashion at Anderson & Sheppard (and on Savile Row in general), women’s influence in the world of British bespoke tailoring today cannot be overestimated. First of all, women oftentimes accompany their husbands, boyfriends, sons to the tailor’s, assisting them with the selection of a new garment. The truth is that men are usually dressed by women. Second of all, there are more and more women working behind the scenes. Although Anda is the only female principal on Savile Row, these bespoke establishments are now heavily staffed by women. Forty percent of the tailors at A&S, for example, are women. |
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| Youth is not just behind the scenes at Anderson & Sheppard. Another way in which the firm has gone back to the future is with the age of its first-time customers, which is getting younger. This is particularly true of its Asian clients who typically arrive on the premises when they are in their mid-20s. (By contrast, most others are initiated 5-10 years later, although the overall age range of new customers is wide, going up to 70 years. The once revolutionary “London cut” — see Part I— has become a coveted classic, appealing to men of all ages.) When Anderson & Sheppard was established, its clientele tended to be quite young too. Gary Cooper, Rudolph Valentino and the rest were all green behind the ears when they made their initial foray onto Savile Row. Fred Astaire, for example, was only 24 years old when Per Anderson first took his measurements in 1923. This is not to say that A&S is obsessed with youth. Anda’s primary goal, she emphasizes, is to keep the art of bespoke tailoring alive. To that end, she hopes that the younger members of her team will take as much pleasure and satisfaction from their work as the veterans have done. If Jennie McWalter’s unequivocal enthusiasm for her job and the keen interest in the firm’s apprenticeship schemes are anything to go by, the future of Anderson & Sheppard and that of the tailor’s craft is well-assured. Click here for Anderson & Sheppard: Part I. |