INTERVIEW
Kathryn worked her way up at Gieves to become a striker, someone who assists the cutters, striking [chalk] out around the pattern, leaving the inlays and cut the cloth, before sending it to the trimmer. “In 2000, some four years after I fi rst joined Gieves & Hawkes, the tailors wanted to open on Saturdays. I was already shadowing a cutter and as none of the cutters wanted to work Saturdays, I asked if I could measure anyone who came in? So that is how I got started!” So one of the most traditional and
established fi rms on the Row was starting a quiet revolution, although Kathryn is typically modest about her ground- breaking career path. “I just got there at the right time,” she says. “Gieves had a new designer who was revolutionising their casual wear. He had taken the archive and ripped it up to target a younger fashion market. “For me though it was all about customer service. Robert Gieve, fi fth generation of the family, was still alive when I was fi rst there so I got a lot of coaching from him on how to be with clients because I didn’t know how to
“For me Kathryn Sargent is about
providing a great service for our clients. I keep in touch with
them, but I don’t bombard them with ideas. I let
them come to me when they’re ready”
listen to people. As a tailor you need to put yourself second and make sure you listen to the needs of your customers and advise them correctly, but also be aware that the client is an extension of the company. I was just fascinated by that.” Kathryn clearly listened closely to
Robert’s advice as in 2009 she was named Head Cutter for Gieves & Hawkes. An impressive achievement for any cutter, but a spectacular feat for Kathryn, making her the fi rst female head cutter in the history of the Row. So with such a public endorsement of her skills and talent, why walk away after some 15 years to go it alone? “I just saw an opportunity,” she says
simply. “Gieves is a very masculine shop and I had started making stuff for women and I could see there would be an opportunity to make more for women in the future. All of my clients [at Gieves & Hawkes] were so diff erent and I just wanted to provide more of a service where I’m asking my clients ‘what can we create for you?’ rather than ‘this is my style, this is what you buy into and I make it for you’.” R
SAVILE ROW STYLE MAGAZINE
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