The London Lounge

Now that Anderson & Sheppard are opening a new store on Clifford St. just around the corner from their premises on Old Burlington, some of their clients/fans have expressed their concerns regarding the future of the brand exclusivity.
The new store, located right next door to the Buck's Club will be dedicated to casual wear and haberdashery in general, a la Drake's across the street.
Any take on this by fellow LL members?

Dear Hectorm,

I'm looking forward to it. Drakes deserves some serious competition. And I prefer A & S doing what they plan, rather than doing MTM & RTW suits.

cheers, david

It will be headed by Audie Charles, who hasn't deluted "Douglas Hayward" brand too much.

While not an A&S' customer, I would salute opening of a similar store by my own tailors. And looking forward to what A&S is going to offer.

Andrey

P.S.: BTW, this: http://www.anderson-sheppard.co.uk/then ... rd-street/

Seems like a good idea. Whether we like it or not the market for bespoke garments remains tight at best and any company needs gentle expansion to survive in the current century. So long as the bespoke operation remains completely separate this can only be for the good.

I think its a very smart, and long overdue, move on their part. They are now finally leveraging their outstanding brand without diluting their core bespoke offering.

A sign of things to come -- almost opposite Drake's store.



Andrey

Watch out for their ties - with soft folds, cut on the bias and hand stiched so they move with you!

Scot wrote:Watch out for their ties - with soft folds, cut on the bias and hand stiched so they move with you!

Some (at least half) of their ties are made by Drake's... and currently retail for roughly 60% of what Drake's ask themselves.

This neighbourhood should be funny.

Andrey

This should be very interesting, I am very much looking to the opening of the store.

Although not a very hot topic, I see that the general reception among LL members who posted on Anderson & Sheppard's opening a new store on Clifford is very positive.
Personally I'm looking forward to it. I'm curious to see if the new haberdashery shop will follow the style guidelines established at Old Burlington or if it will follow new independent paths (i.e. carry ancient madder ties in flashier prints which I particularly like).