Terry Haste and John Kent

[stephenm]

Has anyone had a bespoke suit made by either of the above gentlemen recently? - some comments on your experience would help me, also thoughts on which of the two to work with. (I have searched the old threads on these two tailors, but of course things move on). I'm very happy with my Norton stuff and my recent Huntsman suit - but at £5,000 per suit I was wondering how much quality I'm dropping in having one made by Haste or Kent, given it's virtually half the Huntsman price.

[MRJ]

I have just collected a suit from Terry in Lessors 13oz. I am very pleased with it with a good quality cut, fit and finish.He is also making my LL cashmere overcoat and the first fitting of this was quite excellent. I wanted a Huntsman cut and that is what he has done. I believe John cuts a looser suit but have no experience of this. All I would say is he makes suits for some very distinguished people and has done for many years, including HRH Duke of Edinburgh for whom he holds a royal warrant. Pricing is very competitive. I will be ordering more suits from Terry. Hope this helps.

[couch]

Re John Kent, I haven't had anything from him recently, but in 1984 he cut a SB navy blazer for me (my first bespoke venture), 3-button with firm roll, of an early H&S super 100's worsted flannel (that I picked over the six other choices he offered). That was when he was head cutter for the original Hawes & Curtis, once a storied firm. Other than specifying the number of buttons, I let him guide me on the styling. I was quite thin in those days, and he cut a fairly trim coat with a slight pagoda shoulder and slim, piped sleeves that were perfectly pitched. It may be that he was honoring the military heritage of the blazer, or perhaps the style of the times (high back collar, sloping shoulder with a bit of convex lift toward the roped sleevehead), or a house style, but it looked terrific. There was quite a firm structure to the chest--more than any coat I've had since. That may have been because I was less athletic at the time and benefited from the shaping, or it could have been his house style. I still have the jacket, though the shoulders and sleeves no longer sit easily on me, so I don't wear it much. But I still admire the quality of the tailoring and finish; the buttonhole work set the standard I still ask for (and am often told only specific finishers can provide). I suspect the skills were more widely available in those days.

The jackets I've seen Prince Philip wear have generally had a more middle-of-the-road shoulder expression, and more drape in the chest, even when he was younger and fitter; presumably early in Mr. Kent's tenure:



as well as more recently:



I conclude from this that JK is able to adapt his cut to the figure and/or preferences of the bespeaker. He was always a pleasure to work with, and is a notable character on the Row. I have no idea whether today's advantageous price reflects lower overhead, less greed on the part of the principals, or (less likely) shortcuts taken in the making and/or finishing, but I should think there are few cutters with Kent's breadth of experience still practicing in London. If you're in London, it would be worth stopping by the shop and having a look at some recent work and a chat to see how you get on.

[andreyb]

I'm a John Kent customer, and wrote on my experience there.

I don't have any suits made by other SR tailors, so can't really compare... However, I have a suit made by a respectable Italian tailor -- the quality of clothing John made for me is on par. He mentioned that his trousermaker also works for Nortons and Huntsman -- take this for what it is worth, though. Leslie Haines (ex head cutter at Hayward) works as in-house tailor at KHL; Mathew Farnes (ex head cutter at E&R) works as an alterations tailor there -- so, at least they have some experienced hands on staff.

As for styling, John claims that he made for Fred Astaire. He says that Astaire liked his coats to be "supersoft". Eventually, we went for "soft" (using John's gradation) for my first and subsequent coats -- see the thread linked above for a picture. As I understand, Terry Haste is very fond of Huntsman's style and gravitates towards it. Also, Nick Foulkes is a long-time customer of his -- you can easily find Foulke's pictures (and thus, examples of Haste's clothing) online.

What KHL may *lack* when compared with others on the Row, is level of service. In my experience, delays and missed communication are not uncommon.

Andrey

[stephenm]

Thanks for the feedback gentlemen, much appreciated.

[Rowly]

Does anyone recognise the cloth/pattern in this one?
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/arc ... 43857b.jpg

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedi ... 28222a.jpg