Thomas Mahon's English Cut

[Henry Hall]

I saw yesterday, just perusing the web, that Thomas Mahon's English Cut went into administration and he's no longer part of it.

Seems a corrupt venture capital company played a common financial trick on him - said they were going to purchase 20% of his company, then gave him half the money as a 'loan' why they sorted out their part of the deal. After stalling and stalling with the agreement, and giving more money while the deal was supposedly in process, they then started demanding certain changes to the business methods since they were now creditors. The company went into administration and guess who bought it?

I used to like reading Mahon's blog. He was surely one of the first to upload Savile Row-type tailoring videos to you tube, when it was still a closed world.

Mahon is now heading up Redmayne's, the bespoke tailor where he served his original apprenticeship.
This month Hardie Amies also brought in the 'administrators'.

[Greger]

Interesting character. Don't think he knows how to run a business. If you are going to have a business get a lawyer and an accountant, and who ever else you need (like maybe a manager to watch over to keep the ship on an even keel). Knowing what a business owner can do, and delegate the rest. So many small businesses go under because they get into the deep waters of legal and accounting. If he had either of these two his business helping (lawyer and accountant) his business would be fine, unless he went against their advice.

Liked reading most of what he had to say.

[Henry Hall]

Well he ran English Cut for 19 years and was making suits for the likes of Prince Charles; he also had a made-to-measure division, so I think he knows how to run an operation. He made a bad decision and trusted a bunch of financial vultures. His philosophy of trying to bring tailoring within the means of those who aren't among the super-rich is commendable.

[Greger]

Tailors haven't only made for the super rich, or even the rich. Savil Row made for the wealthy because of class division. There were other parts of London where tailors charged less. Many young tailors of the past were pushed to be as good as they could in case they had natural talent so they could earn more money by making for the wealthy. The tailors who were not so good made for the rest of the population. Todays world is harder to include the poorer people because the machinery for mass-produced is far superior than that of the past, so they are fast. What I was taught is to be expedient. Today's tailor can make a profit from custom/bespoke jeans on up the ladder of clothes. But you have to be quick to figure out what to put in it so neither side looses. Poulin shows about 80 pad stitches per lapel instead of 1,200, more or less. The shape (roll) of the lapel comes from hanging from the collar.  80 stitches is a considerable price drop from 1,000 stitches. How long does it take to make hip pockets? If the person is not interested, just hang flaps there, sewn on top. No cutting the coat at all. The purpose of the main canvas is a clean front (foundation). Haircloth is for keeping unpleasant shape showing in the upper chest. This doesn't need to be a huge fancy piece. Only big enough to do the job. Felt to prevent scratching. What is important is fit and appearance. Everything else is changeable according to price. Don't want to skimp on materials, if you want people coming back. For many tailors making for the wealthy is luck.