“When I was a toddler,” says Lawrence Robinson, “Mum would sit me on her knee and operate the sewing machine pedals with her feet, while I made pockets and toys.”
Lawrence is the fifth generation of Robinson running the family’s bespoke tailoring business in Alcester, Warwickshire. With the family thread running back to the late Victorian era, many might assume Lawrence was always going to be a tailor. But it nearly didn’t happen.
“While I was at school,” Lawrence explains, “I got some work experience at a local travel agency, which I enjoyed. Then I got a Saturday job there, which eventually led to a YTS placement and later a full-time position.”
After a few years, and the birth of his daughter, Jess, he reappraised his situation. His wife suggested he join his family firm and, in doing so, Lawrence continued his family’s bespoke tailoring heritage that dates back to 1885.
He began learning the same skills his father, Peter, had learned from Lawrence’s grandfather, John, known in the family as Jack. That meant getting used to the tools and equipment, many of which haven’t changed in over a hundred years.
“It takes time getting used to a thimble,” says Lawrence. “It’s vital for hand-sewing, and it can feel awkward, but once you’re used to it, you can’t sew without one.”
He made curtains while learning how to use a thimble, and his father set him to work on alterations. As his skills grew, he learned the intricate workmanship of handmade tailored suits and jackets.
Bespoke tailoring is a craft. From the initial measuring process, through to choosing materials, making the patterns, cutting the material, checking fittings, making adjustments, and the finishing press—it’s all done by hand. At Robinson Bespoke Tailors, it’s also completed all under one roof.
Tailors also need expertise in understanding their clients’ needs, to help them get the most from their garment.
“A bespoke jacket or suit is an investment,” says Lawrence. “Made with the right materials, and designed for the client’s needs, a jacket or suit will last years, if not longer.”
Some clients require a bespoke piece for an annual event, such as the Cheltenham Festival. Others need something to use on a regular or daily basis.
Such is the quality of craftsmanship, sometimes clients bequeath their garments to future generations. After taking the necessary measurements, Lawrence and his team can adjust the garment to fit its new owner perfectly.
The whole process begins with the initial fitting, which is usually an hour, but can take longer, especially if the client hasn’t used their services before. Between twenty-five and thirty measurements are taken, and the client’s needs are assessed.
“One farmer from the Welsh mountains required a working jacket with numerous pockets, inside and out, each to hold a specific tool,” says Lawrence.
Determining the client’s intended use for the garment also informs the choice of cloth used to make it. For the suits and jackets, the family source much of their material from Yorkshire, using traditional English woven cloths, including those from Dugdale Bros & Co and Huddersfield Cloth. They also use a fine selection of Harris Tweed.
Once the client’s measurements have been taken, they’re drafted onto paper to create the pattern. These are then cut out and laid on top of the client’s chosen material. The tailor marks around the pattern using chalk.
The cloth is cut so the garment can be tacked together with loose stitches to create a basic shell. At this point, the client is invited back for what’s known as the baste fitting. This is an opportunity to check the measurements are correct, to see how the cloth drapes on the customer, and also to check sleeve and jacket length. Any further adjustments are then made before the garment is hand-sewn together.
This is also when Lawrence’s team adds the linings and the pockets. The client returns for the final fitting. Only when the team is happy with the fit are the buttonholes and buttons added. Finally, the garment is hand-pressed.
It can take between seventy and eighty hours to make a bespoke suit, although if a client has a particular deadline, Lawrence will work into the evenings to get the job finished on time.
He’s been working full-time for the business for over twenty-five years, but he’s got a long while to go before he catches up with Sue, their trouser-maker. Sue began working for the firm fifty-two years ago and was taught by Lawrence’s grandfather. At first, he wasn’t convinced it was going to work out, because Sue is left-handed.
“Granddad said she’d never make a tailoress, being left-handed,” says Lawrence, “so Sue tried learning the right-handed way of doing things. But she just couldn’t get on with it, so she simply converted our right-handed ways into left-handed ways, and the rest is history.”
One of Lawrence’s cousins is left-handed, and so Sue taught her the art of left-handed tailoring.
Other team members include Elly, who makes trousers and other garments, and Nick, who does most of the measuring and drafts each customer their own paper pattern and cuts the cloth. He was trained on Savile Row and became a Head Cutter at a tailoring house on the Row.
But Lawrence is also looking towards the future. He’s taken on an apprentice, Matt, who is also studying at university. Matt is the youngest person to have made the finals of the Golden Shears Awards, aged just fourteen, in 2019.
The Golden Shears are the Oscars of the tailoring world and are held every two years. They’re organised by the Merchant Taylors’ Company, one of the great twelve livery companies of London, which was once the regulator and the trade body of tailoring in medieval London.
The Golden Shears award takes place in the company’s Threadneedle Street premises, where entrants’ work is showcased on a live catwalk runway, and judged by three industry experts for style and technical skill.
Two years earlier, in 2017, Lawrence’s daughter Jess was also a finalist at the Golden Shears, with a suit that is now proudly on display in the family showroom.
Jess also spent two years training at the Savile Row Academy, one of the leading tailoring schools in the world.
Which all suggests the generational thread will continue to weave its magic as the craft continues well into the twenty-first century.
There’s a strong sense of family on the premises, and not just because Lawrence and his daughter work here. Lawrence’s mother continues to work one day a week, and they have lined the walls with photos of previous Robinson generations.
Watching over Lawrence and his team in their workroom is a photo of Lawrence’s grandfather, who was born in 1902. In the showroom, is another photo of his grandfather, with Lawrence’s father, Peter, and his aunt Jean in the background.
Next to that is an image of Lawrence’s father measuring John Bonham, Led Zeppelin’s drummer, for one of the many suits he bought from the family.
Lawrence chuckles. “John Bonham used to collect a new suit on a Friday and, after a particularly heavy rock ‘n’ roll weekend, he’d be back on Monday morning asking Dad to make him a replacement!”
While the process of making bespoke garments has changed little over the generations, there has been a change in the type of work the family undertakes.
“In my Dad’s day,” remembers Lawrence, “eighty per cent of their work was alterations and the other twenty per cent was new suits. Today, some ninety-five per cent is new suits and barely five per cent is alterations.”
This means Lawrence gets lots of job satisfaction, for his favourite stage of the entire process is when he and his team step back and look at what they have created.
“I like the beginning of the process when we’re working with the customer to determine what it is they want from the garment. But I also love it when the job is complete. It gives me a real sense of satisfaction when a suit is finished.”
The West Midlands may have lost a budding travel agent, but in a quiet building tucked behind the hairdressers on Alcester High Street, there are over one hundred years of the finest tailoring expertise and experience all under one roof.
www.robinsontailors.com
© Simon Whaley