Disrupting the corporatewear market. Manufacturing Tailoring for the Savoy

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Images Supplied by Gresham Blake

The Gresham Blake Stuncroft collaboration: disrupting the corporatewear market. Gresham Blake is evolving the concept of uniform with bold designs that break away from the norm of monotone tailoring.

The PCIAW® Editor sat down with Iain Kettleband, Managing Director, Stuncroft and Molly Hopkins, Corporate Wear Manager, Gresham Blake to interview them on this exciting partnership.

How long has Clubclass been collaborating with Gresham Blake for bespoke uniform design and manufacturing; how did the partnership come about?

(Iain Kettleband) For about 5 years now. Stuncroft is a known as the manufacturer of choice for made-to-measure uniforms and the Gresham team knew that.

The Gresham Blake team approached Stuncroft as they began designing for some luxury 5-star hotels. We had a fond affection for Gresham Blake’s work; it is a brand that is synonymous with high-end, made-to-measure tailoring and they’re famous for it, so we said yes.

Would you say that it’s injected some inspiration into your team, especially with respect to the design-side of fashion?

(IK) Yes, absolutely. Stuncroft is a three-channel business. At one extreme, we make black, navy and charcoal stock, and it’s very standard, professional and easy to manage; at the other extreme, we make made-to-measure and bespoke.

The Stuncroft team is thrilled to be collaborating on bespoke projects for Gresham Blake. In our showroom, we have the Gresham Blake catalogue on display, along with garments that Stuncroft manufactured for them to prove that not all uniforms

have to be black, navy or charcoal. When our clients see that we manufacture for the brand with the celebrity-packed catalogue, it resonates and shows they’re dealing with a serious garment manufacturing business.

Has the collaboration changed the way you think about the nature of corporatewear and the future of the market?

(IK) Uniform buyers are getting the best value for money and the best service that they’ve had for decades, but they’re still consistently striving for higher service and yet lower prices. There’s a desire that uniforms should be cheap, robust, plentiful and a bit unimaginative.

Gresham Blake is disrupting the market – showing brands
that are prepared to be challenged, that there are alternative suppliers out there. Gresham’s team has designed for the likes of The Savoy and Hard Rock Hotels and said: “We’ll wow you with a design and actually tell you what you should wear”. It can bring out the best in a company’s uniform concept and I think that
too few designers are willing to be brave in that approach these days.

What made you choose Clubclass as your manufacturer, and how did you know about them being in the fashion sector at the start?

(Molly Hopkins) When we were designing The Savoy uniforms, they key point in the brief was on the in-house launderability of the garments. It was important to the Gresham Blake brand that we maintained the quality and shape – to source a suiting manufacturer that could produce quality garments that still looked amazing after being washed and hung to dry. Stuncroft were the business for that need.

We did a lot of sampling with Stuncroft before choosing them – they were very much our guinea pigs as Gresham Blake entered the world of bespoke corporatewear. Stuncroft also offered ranges of sustainable, ethical fabrics – which The Savoy chose. We elevated that design with an especially developed black and micro-poly jacquard lapel, designed for washability.

Why did you decide to enter the bespoke uniform market following the successful Gresham Blake fashion brand?

(MH) It was very much on request. The Goodwood Hotel reached out to Gresham Blake and wanted a design-led uniform; since then, clients began trickling-in. Our client base grew organically though word-of-mouth. Six years ago, we had around ten corporate clients. Now, we have close to seventy. The bespoke uniform side of the Gresham Blake business has really grown to the point of having its own dedicated team.

When a person moves company, they often ask Gresham Blake to design the new uniforms again. You can’t get a better compliment than that. Bespoke uniforms weren’t originally intended in our business plan, however, in the last five years we began targeting contracts, but to be honest – it pretty much just falls in our lap.

How have you leveraged your design skills in the fashion industry to begin winning global contracts for high-end bespoke uniforms?

(MH) Because Gresham Blake is a made-to-measure tailor, everything is about that level of detail and customer service. The same level of effort goes into choosing the trims and lining as in

the suit style; that level of detail translates into how we work in the uniform business.

Sometimes, Stuncroft will see an order with a lot of specified details and say: “Are you joking?” but that’s why people work with us. Clients might request a certain Melton collar or for the third button to be pink or whatever it might be. It’s our bespoke tailoring background that gives us that eye for detail that is unmatched in the corporatewear market.

Links

https://www.greshamblake.com
https://clubclasscorporatewear.co.uk
https://pciaw.org