A winning pair: James Sleater, right, who co-founded the firm in 2008 with business partner Ian Meiers
“As well as being exciting, opening up in New York makes good business sense to us,” says James. “A lot of our customers are in finance and will spend three years living and working at a bank in London and then move back to New York or vice versa so, over time, we have naturally built up a good customer base which makes the business viable. Our US operation is currently 6% of what we do, so our potential upside is huge, especially when you bear in mind that about 75% of Savile Row’s business comes from the United States.” The stores on Fifth Avenue and in the financial
district in Midtown – the move is being made easier because two members of staff are actually married to Americans – will raise the number of Cad & The Dandy outlets to six, with three in London and one out in Stockholm. “The Gotrich business became available and it fitted in with our operation. We’ve got an amazing number of customers in Scandinavia and their archives are incredible. It’s interesting to see how they operate – we are teaching them things and they are teaching us things. They make for the Swedish royal family and ABBA, which is about as good as it gets,” he says with a smile. “It’s been going since 1730 which actually makes it older than any tailor on Savile Row.”
56 SAVILE ROW STYLE MAGAZINE “I hope that, in 2028, Savile Row is
stronger than ever, that it has evolved and embraced this need to change”
J
ames, who founded the firm in 2008 with business partner Ian Meiers, is clear that being based on Savile Row is essential to Cad & The Dandy’s success. “There is a kudos to working on Savile
Row which we all need to protect,” he says. “Having a shop here is a hugely important part of the business, especially as we expand around the world. It’s been an amazing learning curve in many respects because when you set up, you do not necessarily go along the right path at the start. Initially, we focused on price and, within only three months, we realised that price wasn’t the most important thing. Quality is what your brand reputation comes down to and, for us, the past 10 years have been about making suits that adhere to every single Savile Row principle but done in a more modern way and making them more affordable. “We need to foster and protect this street with every ounce of our being. When we set up our business we had to compete against the street and now we are competing against the world. There are tailors around
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
