I learned why the men who "swear by" tailors in Hong Kong are often wrong: rent hikes and profit gouging has led many of the most expensive clothing brands to manufacture in the developing world. Luxury British tailors Gieves & Hawkes will make a marvellous made-to-measure suit for you – in Mauritius.
This is all the more miserable because the finest hand-cut and sewn craftsmanship is British. The finest cloths are made in Britain. But British men buy clothes on a high street filled with products from Asia, cut to look like styles from Italy.
This year, M&S has changed all this. Buyers trawled our mills and factories for the best cloths and cutters and produced a stunning "Best of British" range, which is probably a poor title because these clothes are the best in the world. Chosen from historic M&S designs, they're some of the most desirable I've ever seen. The collection launched on Thursday.
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For example, my suit was constructed in Crewe by Cheshire Bespoke - the best factory-scale tailors in the world. It is hand-finished. There is a floating canvas. It will last a lifetime. The cloth, which was hand-cut, is a gray flannel woven by J H Clissold & Son – they are among the best weavers in the world. Their mill is in Bradford.
Other "labels" in the M&S range include Alfred Brown of Bramley in Leeds and Abraham Moon and Sons of Guiseley – both long-established, world-class cloth mills. There are coats and jackets made by Cooper & Stollbrand of Manchester, and shoes by Cheaney of Desborough. And while I paid £800 for my suit and spent £300 on a jacket, they cost a fraction of the prices charged by Ralph Lauren and other designer brands who employ the same British craftsmen to make their most expensive merchandise.
