A&S

[TheFoo]



Has your personal experience at LH change since they launched into RTW?

I wasn't thinking so much of LH as I was Ambrosi. The client service from the latter has dropped through the floor, as many on the forum can attest. Newcomers think it's normal to wait months and months, sometimes more than a year, for trousers promised 4-6 weeks. But it was only after Ambrosi decided to become a RTW label that the service became so atrociously unreliable. But then, Salvatore is quite frank about his focus on developing his RTW line and selling in Asia, so none of us should really be so surprised.

I don't think LH has changed so much since expanding into RTW (again). However, the rapid passing of the reins from Mariano to Luca can definitely be felt. I'm not sure how this will effect service and quality, but if you visit the shop in Naples you can definitely sense that things are in transition.

I've spoken to both Salvatore and Mariano/Luca at length about how they see their respective businesses growing. Both think that moving into RTW is imperative for the future, but they have very different opinions about the place of their bespoke operations. Salvatore seems to believe it is worthwhile to leave behind the old way of doing bespoke. His business manager is touting a more streamlined, factory-based MTM/MTO model with pants being made in several different 'styles' the customer can pick from at any retail location. He wears Attolini MTM, which reflects his vision for Ambrosi. In short, they want to sell at department stores and be the next Borrelli or Kiton. Mariano and Luca, on the other hand, take the view that while bespoke is certainly not profitable enough on its own, it is the cornerstone of their brand and prestige, and thus necessary to preserve.

 

[Eustace Tilley]

It should be noted that the new A+S store appears not to sell any RTW tailored clothing - its casual jackets, ties, accessories etc. I'll be meeting Hitchcock / Heywood on Monday and will try and learn more then.

 

[TheFoo]



It should be noted that the new A+S store appears not to sell any RTW tailored clothing - its casual jackets, ties, accessories etc. I'll be meeting Hitchcock / Heywood on Monday and will try and learn more then.

That's the stuff with the highest profit margins. Smart. Make more money with less effort while minimizing brand dilution.

 

[moddey]



I don't think LH has changed so much since expanding into RTW (again). However, the rapid passing of the reins from Mariano to Luca can definitely be felt. I'm not sure how this will affect service and quality, but if you visit the shop in Naples you can definitely sense that things are in transition.

foo...it's been almost a year since I've been to LH naples. Any idea of the timeline for the transition? I always hoped that M. would continue to be accessible down there, but would let the London and Milan operations drift sooner or later to the kids. It sounds like the transition to Luca at all locations is imminent? I hope not...

 

[TheFoo]

You can still work with Mariano and he is still 'Maestro', it's just that it's clear Luca is calling more and more of the shots. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Luca has his own distinctive style, but he is all too aware of the importance of preserving the Rubinacci tradition. Both him and his father have a great respect for the old ways.

 

[RSS]



You can still work with Mariano and he is still 'Maestro', it's just that it's clear Luca is calling more and more of the shots. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Luca has his own distinctive style, but he is all too aware of the importance of preserving the Rubinacci tradition. Both he and his father have a great respect for the old ways.

I know you know better.

 

[RSS]



A&S today signed a 10 year lease for separate premises on Clifford street that will sell the best RTW casual clothing sourced from the UK

Say it isn't so.
Is nothing sacred? ​

 

[LaoHu]



Say it isn't so.
Is nothing sacred? ​

No, nothing is sacred in and of itself, I would have said. Ideas, texts, even people can be made sacred - the word is from the Latin sacrare, "to set apart as holy" - but even though such entities, once their sacredness is established, seek to proclaim and to preserve their own absoluteness, their inviolability, the act of making sacred is in truth an event in history. It is the product of the many and complex pressures of the time in which the act occurs. And events in history must always be subject to questioning, deconstruction, even to declarations of their obsolescence. To revere the sacred unquestioningly is to be paralyzed by it. The idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any culture, because it seeks to turn other ideas Uncertainty, Progress, Change - into crimes.

Salman Rushdie, 1990.

 

[RSS]



The idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any culture, because it seeks to turn other ideas Uncertainty, Progress, Change - into crimes.
Salman Rushdie, 1990.

And a crime it should be!
​

 

[LaoHu]



And a crime it should be!
​

​

 

[RSS]



​

Honestly I'm happy for Anderson & Sheppard. If this helps them survive ... I'm all for it.

 

[Frog in Suit]



Honestly I'm happy for Anderson & Sheppard. If this helps them survive ... I'm all for it.

Please forgive my jumping, uninvited, into the conversation. I have never set foot into the A & S shop, neither the old one nor the one on Old Burlington Street and never ordered anything from them. I am only looking in from the outside, so to speak.

I do not think their survival is at stake. There is money in the business, from the Tiny Rowland fortune (nothing wrong with that, of course).

I think they are just giving in to the temptation of “cashing in” on the “brand”. Norton, with Tautz, is probably doing exactly the same thing at more or les the same time. It must be SO tempting, once you think you have established yourself as an international “brand”, which, you hope, has become synonymous in many people’s minds with “Savile Row”, to try and sell higher margin goods under the SR umbrella and build a small-scale “luxury” business à la LVMH or Hermès or whatever.

The first and very real risk they face is to “turn off” their bespoke customers. If I bought my clothes from A & S, I would not like to run into yobs showing off their RTW “A & S“ sports coats or whatever. I would change tailors.

The second risk is going against the “big boys” (LVMH, Hermès, etc.) who have the deep pockets which enable them to buy market share through advertising and promotion, while being able to afford excellent quality (best materials, training and retaining specialized craftsmen/women in Western Europe, etc.). If A & S ever became a threat to one of the international luxury brands, I am sure they would not last long…

Just my two cents…

Frog in Suit

 

[Ich_Dien]

Reeks of double standards really. To turn down Ralph Lauren and then open your own branded store?

 

[Eustace Tilley]

C'mon guys - what is so wrong with selling A+S branded ties, umbrellas, pocket squares etc? The bespoke brand is diluted in no way, and its a nice and easy way for the business to make some $$$. And lest we forgot the world we live in, A+S is still a business and not some utopian artisan's collective.

 

[F. Corbera]

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