Savile Row is a well-known street in London, famous for its traditional men’s bespoke tailoring. The term “bespoke” is understood to have originated in Savile Row when cloth for a suit was said to “be spoken for” by individual customers.
What happens when retail giant Abercrombie & Fitch wants to come in and sell their mass-produced beach wear? You organize a protest of course – a well dressed one!
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Usually when you hear about a protest everyone wears something that they can be comfortable in. But when employees from The Chap decided to protest Abercrombie’s opening on the famous Savile Row, everyone came out in their Sunday best, suits and all.
Some people may not see the importance of preserving Savile Row but The Chap, a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to holding onto the sartorial influences of yesteryear, expressed their concern by saying:
Savile Row has been the home of bespoke tailoring in England for over 200 years. It is one of the few streets anywhere in the country to remain exclusively devoted to a single trade. Allowing Abercrombie & Fitch to open a store there will irreversibly alter the character of the Row and destroy its old-world charm. We believe that there are already enough streets in London and the whole country full of global chain stores selling casual wear at inflated prices, so why should Savile Row go the same way as Oxford Street, Regent Street et al? There is already a branch of Abercrombie & Fitch on Burlington Gardens, on the corner of Savile Row, and tailors have complained of the queues of eager European tourists cluttering up the pavements and putting themselves at risk from oncoming traffic, in their excitement at the thought of buying a ladies’ T-shirt saying “Who Needs a Brain When You’ve Got These?”
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We completely understand the concern of The Chap and everyone else who decided to attend the protest, but nothing lasts forever and the increased foot traffic may add to the profitability of the other stores on the street. What do you think?
SOURCE: The Chap
