It was 15th July 1985 when I started working at Gieves & Hawkes (Camberley) where my father was head cutter. He was the 3rd generation of tailor in the Bailey bloodline, making me the 4th generation of bespoke tailor in my family.
I started as a trainee waistcoat and trouser maker and then coatmaker making and cutting civilian and military uniforms for Sandhurst Military College for Gieves & Hawkes.
My father told me that if I wanted to go for a career in tailoring I should learn to be a cutter, so in September 1986 I studied at London College of Fashion. The call of Savile Row in London's Mayfair was too strong and I was delighted to get a cutting apprenticeship from September 1990 at Davies and Son as a junior cutter.
But in 1996, after 6 years I was ready for my first position as a cutter. My previous company Gieves & Hawkes in Savile Row had a space available so I began looking after customers at No.1 Savile Row. After a couple of years at G&H a great opportunity came my way, to learn from Michael Skinner, owner of Dege & Skinner to gain some priceless experience and learn my trade from one of the best!
After 10 years at D & S, in August 2007 my quest for more and more tailoring knowledge and experience took me to Davies and Son where I tasted my first experience of Asia, I took over from Mr Peter Harvey running the Tokyo trunk shows. That was where my love affair of this part of the world began! It was during this time that we tried our first and Savile Row's first Seoul trunk show in 2013!
At Davies & Son I was Head Cutter, production director and permanently busy looking after customers in the Savile Row shop, travelling to Tokyo (Harajuku and Shibuya).
But my desire to make Asia a greater focus of my attention took me to Huntsman of Savile Row. They gave me the mission of creating and serving the Asia clients with 4 visits per year.
It started with regular visits to Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. This was so successful that I soon added Bangkok, Taipei and Shenzhen where I developed a reputation for being able to produce a perfect garment for each client on there own doorstep despite the distance from London's West End!
It was my job to organise, plan and grow the business across Asia and make it the success that it became, it's now the biggest and most far reaching Bespoke trunk show that Savile Row has ever offered.
Now's the perfect time to launch my very own bespoke tailoring business. Where I will be regularly visiting Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou/Shenzhen, Taipei, Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore and Bangkok.
My reputation is to create an immaculate fitting suit or jacket that fits like a glove yet has the comfort and feel as if it's not even there yet is made by the worlds finest tailors and cut by my own hands to make even the most difficult of figures look and feel amazing!
But after over 35 years "on the boards" (a tailoring term meaning in the cutting room and workshop) it's time for me to do what I do best but under my own name and ply my trade to those who love and appreciate the finest of the finest and the best of the best when it comes to hand made bespoke tailoring!
I can both make the garments as well as cut and fit the garments, however time doesn't permit for me to do absolutely everything so I insist on using only the finest hand when it comes to my coat-maker, trouser-maker and waistcoat-maker. They are all based on or around Savile Row and uphold the highest possible standards of tailoring!