The Life of a Tailor Raymond Andrews, a bespoke tailorer talks about his life creating hand crafted suits.
The art of designing, cutting, fitting and producing fine
crafted suits. The word tailor came from the French tailler – to cut. Tailoring dates back to the early middle ages and slowly grew to become a popular trade for men. Bespoke tailoring is all about what the customer wants, bespoke is from an old saying, the tailor does what the customer wants and creates it. It is an art of creating a piece of clothing all by hand. Some of the most famous tailoring has come from our very own capital, London. Savile Row has been the heart of bespoke tailoring for almost 200 years. The craft of bespoke tailoring has become a talent and a growing business not just throughout the country but across the world. But the rise of many high street shops has made the suit world seem much less needed; however, this does not seem the case for some of the local bespoke tailoring businesses who are still thriving with business. A small bespoke tailoring business Raymond Andrews in the heart of Headingley, Leeds has been around for many years. The small shop full of different materials and old antiques takes you back in time when you walk through the door. You are surrounded by hundreds of different materials from different colours to patterns that you could look through for hours until you are drawn to your favourite.
The back of the shop is where all the work happens, with several sewing machines, boxes full of coloured thread and measuring tape scattered across the work tops.
This old traditional shop is somewhere everyone should consider going for a bespoke tailored suit which would be made with care and welcomed with a friendly atmosphere
“ I was very enthusiastic and fascinated by creating these suits and I was really intrigued to start making my own.”
Raymond Andrews has evolved into a family business, where Raymond, his wife and daughter work there six days a week creating bespoke suits. His wife and daughter sit for hours crafting away at the different processes of creating their customers suits, from sewing, ironing, measuring and cutting, there is a lot of love taken in the process.
loyal customers who keep coming back for his individual cut suits. Raymond has been tailoring since the age of 15 and has been a passion ever since. “I started Tailoring when I was 15, I began as an apprentice cutter and then I left and then I went in to become an apprentice tailor. I learnt everything as an apprentice and you are always trying to be better every time and to improve the way you create suits every time you make a new one.”
“I was interested in suits when I was younger, suits were very popular in the 1960’s and everyone was wearing them which would make anyone want to and wanting to wear individual ones. It keep coming back for more. was a very popular trade around Leeds Over the years, Raymond has gathered and where I used to live. Nowadays it
is not very popular at all, whether it comes back popular then I don’t really know” Raymond said.” Raymond Andrews was created when Raymond was just 25 years old, now about 45 years later he is still working on unique individual suits every day. “You always are nervous when starting your own business, anybody would be, you gradually build up and you take the good days with the bad days. You have to persevere and try and get a name from yourself, and you have got to be enthusiastic enough to start your own business, and I think if you are not then it may not go the way you want it to go.” It is a difficult job when you first get started, I started to become conscientious and I really wanted to create my own suits from such a young age, around when I was 16, I was very enthusiastic and fascinated by creating these suits and I was really intrigued to start making my own. This encouraged me to push myself and create my business many years later. “When I first started it was obviously so exciting, it was exciting to have my name on these suits I had created by hand and actually have people open the door and want to come in and have something created by me, It makes you feel so proud that you have got this far.” Leeds is home to some of the biggest names in tailoring such as King and Allen and The Gentleman Tailors who create bespoke suits. However, this does not worry Raymond, he said: “I defiantly have more loyal customers compared to the bigger companies, I have had customers come to me for suits for years and that is what you want, you want to keep them coming to you, obviously this is not always the case but I have some coming back to me no matter what. I never feel challenged by these bigger companies in Leeds, not at all. All of my work is individual and my customers have been with me for years but it is a different type of tailoring what they do compare to what I do here.”
Traditionally, tailoring was just for men’s fashion. Women would usually go to a dress maker and the men would go to a tailor but since the early nineteenth century women has wanted to go to a tailor to get a suit fitted perfectly to their feminine bodies. Still, it was not as popular as for tailors to create suits for women but eventually they have begun to focus on women’s suits too. Nevertheless, there are still not many tailors around that create high standard bespoke tailoring for women. Raymond Andrews produces suits now for ladies and gents, being one of few shops that cater for both genders. “I decided to do ladies suits because I always have done men and they used to come in to get fitted and bring their wives along with them and they would usually ask if I did ladies and it just started from there, you start off with one and it eventually grows from there.” “It became a different challenge, I was not just making clothes for men it was now for women too and women’s bodies are very different. It was obviously a challenge and also a lesson to me on how to create something totally different, that of course I was not used to creating since I first started off in this business.” Raymond does not just make suits in his shop, he makes individual garments such as trousers, waistcoats, overcoats and skirts to the customers specification. He uses a different range of cloth from the finest manufacturers, Yorkshire is home to some of the best cloth mills and he has the choice of so many amazing fabrics to create some unique suits from. “We are happy enough to work from an image or anything you bring in for us to work from.
Nothing scares us and we are always happy to tackle some of the hardest styles that our customers ask for. We were once asked to create a tail coat for a stuffed bear and a suit for Santa! So you can really come to us for anything.”
With the high street being the most popular form of shopping today and old and new designers are constantly introducing their own brands of clothing, Raymond disagrees with some of the stuff they are creating; “I have always had a passion for fashion, I like to see different fashion on different people. It is always interesting to see how different people dress and to show their individuality. I do not really agree on these designers clothing because I know that the designers have never produced them pieces of clothing, it is all about how it is made and they will all be made in huge workshops which I disagree with.” “I do not like when you see people like Victoria Beckham and Stella McCarthy because they would not know how to even put on a thumb thimble, never mind go into a workshop and make a piece of clothing. Brands like Gucci are the same, I think people just go by the name and it is false, it is not original at all. They are overpriced, I think my stuff is completely unique and you get to wear something that was made all by hand and that no-one else has got.” When creating a suit, it has so many different processes but Raymond explains his favourite part of making them; “My favourite part of making a suit is putting the collars on the suits; I really enjoy doing that part. I think it is the final part of the suits, it is finishing it off and knowing you have created something so special that you know the customer will love.” “But making the suits is always the same process but completely a different challenge, so every suit is never the same to make. So many types of people walk through the door to this shop, I get tall, lanky, small, all different size people and I constantly have to measure and create suits for so it makes each day completely dissimilar but it makes the job worthwhile.”
Process of Tailoring MEASURING – When ordering a bespoke suit you will firstly be measured and everything will be taking into account including your posture so that the suit fits you perfectly. CUT PATTERN- The suit will then be hand cut to the specific measurements to what has previously been measured and then hand stitched. After the cutting, one of the main parts of the bespoke suit is the baste. A baste is a half-made suit that is not finished, the suit is held together with white baste stitching, this is so the suit can be taken apart in case the measurements need to be changed in the second fitting. In the second fitting is where adjustments are marked down on the suit, this can change the way in which the suit is actually finally turns out. PREPARE SUIT FOR THIRD FITTING – The suit will basically completed and if any final adjustments need to be marked then this is when it will all happen. FINAL FITTING – The final fitting will make sure everything is perfect and if anything else needs to be done with the suit then this is when it will be done. The customer can then take the suit home. “You start off by measuring the customer and gather their sizes and then you begin to cut the fabric, measuring pocket sizes. There is that many operations in suit making the list could go on but eventually it is fitted. Once you have measured a person and you cut it how you have measured it, they then try it on and I do the necessarily alterations on it.”
Once for the wealthiest of men, bespoke tailored suits would only ever been seen on. But the old tradition of having a custom made suit seems to be staying around with more people wanting a bespoke suit to make them stand out and look individual. With it now moving on to becoming popular for women too, these high quality suits are making the tailoring industry thrive which is perfect for independent shops like Raymond’s. The suits here are something anyone wearing them would be proud to own, you know what you are wearing was created with care and passion throughout the whole process. For anyone looking for a special occasion to wear an individual piece, Raymond can create that and you will leave the shop with the most individual and perfectly fitted suit which will be able to be worn throughout the years.
Visit Raymond Andrew’s shop: 5-6 St Chads Parade, Otley Road, Headingley, Leeds LS16 5JH