Savile Row Models Are Available In Christchurch

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31785, 16 September 1968, Page 12

Savile Row Models Are Available In Christchurch

A suit hand sewn by a Savile Row tailor is beyond the reach of most New Zealand men but through negotiations recently completed it is possible to buy in Christchurch a suit modelled by Savile .Row tailors.

A panel of 10 of the world ! renowned tailors has auth'orised 1.C.1. Limited to have made in various countries suits which conform to the last stitch to their patterns. The garments, a few of which are now available at Munns, Ltd, bear the tag with the Savile Rom imprimatur on the inside pocket. Mr Carl Smith of Munns heard about this arrangement earlier in the year and was more than a little sceptical. From his own experience of Savile Row tailers he thought it extremely unlikely that they would allow suits of their patterns to be mass produced so to speak. So he wrote to one of the Savile Row firms—Henry Poole and Company who are livery tailors to the Queen —for confirmation.

one Poole and all the rest were puddles. Henry was the Poole. When James inherited the business in 1846 he built a magnificent showroom and made an entrance for customers into Savile Row. He was in fact responsible for Savile Row getting on to the map. What Poole succeeded in doing was to start the exodus of the medical profession from Savile Row and the entry of tailors. The doctors took themselves north to Harley Street Poole flourished greatly. He had a house at Brighton and a stud farm at Greenford and was almost as famous for his horses as for his tailoring. On his death in 1876 a large share of the firm was inherited by his counsin Samuel Cundey who had been general manager for many years. Cundey had many problems

including a pile of debts. Poole had been very lax in obtaining payment from his favourite customers and had himself left a trail of debts. But Cundey pulled the business out of the fire by opening branches in Vienna, Berlin and Paris. The last survived until the outbreak of the Second World War. Crippling death duties almost annihilated the firm again in the 1930’s but a very experienced showroom manager helped the survival. During the war Henry Poole dressed General de Gaulle and a host of high ranking American officers in London. The firm became a limited company in 1946 and the next year it began taking orders on the spot from Americans at home. This has since become a major part of the business. John F. Kennedy was a patron of Savile Row.

The company wrote back confirming what Mr Smith had heard. It also enclosed interesting information about its own history which goes back 150 years. The great firm was started by James Poole in 1810 in Brunswick Square. A newspaper of 1813 reported the trial of two men who broke into Mr Poole’s shop and stole a roll of cloth. They were sentenced to death by hanging.

Henry Poole, son of James entered the firm in 1829 and proceeded to build it up to an unassailable position. It was said of the Poole family that there was only