Founded in 1937 with Royal Warrants to King George VI and H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, Benson and Clegg produce the highest standard of classic English tailoring.
Formerly tailors to King George VI, Benson & Clegg now hold a Royal warrant from the Prince of Wales. While a fitting is unlikely to take more than an hour, with most of the time spent on choosing cloth and style, the finished product takes a couple of months to be painstakingly pieced together. And the price? About £2,600 for a hand-crafted suit.
You can pore over thousands of fabrics for made-to-measure, or go full bespoke, for which they’ll spend 50 hours hand-making it in-house in their London premises.
Not only has Benson & Clegg been part of London’s bespoke tailoring heritage for over seventy five years, they are also leading in its ever expanding range of blazer buttons, blazer badges, cufflinks and an extensive variety of stripe/motif ties including Forces/Club/Old School designs.
The stock of over 150 different varieties of blazer button represents some of Britain’s most prestigious military and academic institutions, as well as large range of historical and decorative designs. From buttons depeticing the royal shield, to cufflinks made from 19th century coins – you’re sure to get something truly unique and extra special. They have an engraving service for buttons and/or cufflinks, providing initials, military insignia and family crests. They also specialise in regimental and old school ties.
The tailors are knowledgeable, friendly and have the ability to make useful suggestions based on build, lifestyle and personal preference.
Ken Austin is now the owner of Benson & Clegg, not actually in Savile Row but accepted as in the Savile Row environs, situated in the Piccadilly Arcade. He gives a wry smile when asked how he came into tailoring – and blames his mother.
“My mother was in the clothing trade, a very accomplished machinist, and I occasionally helped in her business. So when I was leaving school and my first choice of a career in engineering wasn’t possible, she suggested I do a course in bespoke tailoring at the old Shoreditch College . And that was it!”
It was in 1970 that he joined Benson & Clegg, gradually taking the business over from the Clegg family as they retired. And since doing so he has developed and diversified the business. “You can’t just do suits any more.” And he travels regularly to New York. “The Americans still aren’t travelling to London very much – the new crowd are the Russians.”
“Our customers generally speaking want the classic English suit, nothing too extrovert. We try to guide them towards good cloths. There’s a new tendency, what I call the numbers game, that has people believing that if they have a Super 150s or Super 200s cloth it must be good – but of course the quality comes from what is put into that cloth. Some of them have no body and crease terribly. It’s a case of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing!”
It’s a good job he has a lot of knowledge then!
Benson and Clegg specialise in:
- Gentlemans bespoke tailoring.
- Made to measure garments.
- Bespoke shirts.
- Over 120 designs of blazer button, including classic and military designs.
- Over 80 designs of embroidered blazer badges.
- Over 200 designs of classic, novelty & regimental cufflinks.
- Specialists in military ties, university ties and old school ties.
- Classic motif, fancy and stripe ties
- Full in house engraving service, incorporating club & company promotional gifts.
- Wholesale and retail.
Benson & Clegg, 9 Piccadilly Arcade (020 7491 1454, www.bensonandclegg.com).
