In the past few weeks, the Anderson & Sheppard Haberdashery has introduced ready-to-wear, unstructured tailoring for the first time. This is interesting to explore, because one of the first things the team said when they opened the Haberdashery was that they wouldn’t do any tailoring as it was too close to the bespoke operation. 

For those that don’t know, Anderson & Sheppard has a separate bespoke tailoring shop on Old Burlington Street, and has been doing bespoke for over 100 years. The Haberdashery was founded by owner Anda Rowland in 2012 to offer things that complimented the bespoke - knitwear, ties, accessories and so on. 

Over time A&S have expanded this, offering chore jackets, then raglan coats, then jersey blazers (below). But the tailored jackets you saw hanging around the shop were always bespoke, and you had to go to the bespoke shop to buy one. 

The reason for the change now, the team say, is that customers say there’s a gap between their chore jackets and the bespoke, largely since Covid. Customers like wearing something that is clearly tailoring, but that is also very relaxed, not precious, and easy to throw on. 

So the new line is unstructured (no padding, only a small piece of canvas in the shoulder) and unlined (only in the sleeves). It’s also done in casual materials - baby cord, heavy cotton - rather than normal suit fabrics.  

The Haberdashery has always worked in reaction to customers. You’ve seen this season to season as it’s grown, and customers like the wonderful, sadly departed AA Gill were involved in the initial collection. The knitwear and the trouser styles expanded as people asked for different combinations. 

“The nice thing so far is that some bespoke customers have also bought the unstructured pieces, showing there is that gap,” says store manager Emily. “They’d always go to Old Burlington Street for business suits, or for a dinner suit. But they want something clearly Anderson & Sheppard as well that isn’t at that level.”

It was the thinking behind the wider trouser offering too: an existing bespoke customer doesn’t necessarily need or want bespoke trousers with their jackets, particularly if they want several options.

The main thing that struck me when I saw the RTW tailoring - and I think makes it worth dedicating a whole article to - is that it looked very distinctively A&S.  

That might not sound that unusual, but when other Savile Row houses have done RTW, I find it often feels too different to their bespoke. They can’t convince a factory to make a new block for them, perhaps, or to use completely different padding and structure. It’s hard to make someone change everything about the way they normally make suits, for what is often a fairly small order. 

A reader actually commented on this recently, asking where they could get traditional structured-English tailoring off the rack. The answer is nowhere really, because there are no big English suit factories left. And everyone else does the soft stuff. 

The other issue is that tailors tend to offer RTW in standard business suit fabrics - navy and grey worsteds, which is a clearer competitor to the bespoke. 

The A&S double-breasted lapel looks more like a bespoke A&S one than anything from another brand. It’s a little higher in the gorge than my bespoke from them, but has that wide shape with lots of belly. The single-breasted is less distinctive, but has some good belly in the shape as well. 

And the materials and trimmings are very A&S too. It’s the same bottle-green cord and grey/blue heavy cotton the Haberdashery has done for a long time. The issue there I guess is that many bespoke houses don’t really have a distinctive style in that same way.  

All this makes the new RTW tailoring feel part of the brand, but I also think it separates it a little from RTW at other brands (not tailors). You’re buying into a particular style view that the Haberdashery has always had, and which customers sometimes struggle to execute themselves when they commission MTM. 

Like the rest of the Haberdashery outerwear, the price is high. An unstructured jacket costs £2,595. It’s a very good make (Belvest) and a unique cut (not always the case with ready-made) but you are paying for the style, the shop and the service. Which, given our recent article and the fact the shop is perhaps my favourite in the world for those things, is certainly worth something. Perhaps it’s a more personal question as to how much.

It seems likely the core audience for the new RTW will be existing bespoke and Haberdashery customers, who love the style and for whom this is not that different to the A&S travel jackets (£2,150) and a lot less than a bespoke jacket (£4,464 inc VAT).

I personally don’t feel it’s that close to the bespoke offering either, so it doesn’t contradict the spirit of that statement the team made when they started. No one that appreciates bespoke is going to see this as a straight substitute for Old Burlington Street. 

When I tried the pieces, I found the sizing I found a little tricky. I’d normally wear an Italian 50 these days in ready-made tailoring, but a 50/Large here was a little tight on the shoulders and I found a 52/X-Large better. It was loose in the waist, but that would be an easy thing to take in. Certainly better than letting other things out. 

The trousers are also fairly slim (7¾ inch bottom) and the trouser to the size Large was too tight in the seat and thighs for me. The X-Large was better. 

This also shows that the grading (the amount a piece changes in measurements from one size to the next) is fairly small. This has the advantage that customers might be able to wear more than one size, and can choose based on style. It has the disadvantage that those at the extremes might find there isn’t something for them. 

Interestingly, A&S originally launched this offering just as suits, which surprises me. I would think the market would be bigger for casual jackets, with the option perhaps to add trousers. 

This is the direction they’re going in more now, with some jackets on offer (navy cord and chocolate cotton) and separate trousers. If it works with the material, it will also be great if A&S could offer their full range of trouser styles with the RTW jackets, as there’s much more to choose from there. 

It’ll be interesting to see how the RTW evolves - both in little things like this, and the colours and materials. I’d always go bespoke for something that looks like tailoring, as this does, but then I’m happy and able to pay for bespoke. Others will not, and they will also have different priorities to me in terms of make and speed.