SPEAKER_01 0:09

Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Men's Wear Style Podcast. I'm your host, Pete Brooker, and today on the show I am talking to the founder of Fielding and Nicholson, Ian Fielding Calcutta. Fielding and Nicholson is an independent tailor's which has been providing a highly personal, exceptional service, creating pieces from some of the finest fabrics in the world for 18 years with origins in the northwest of England. The brand now has showrooms on Sackville Street, close to Savile Row and in Manhattan, Zurich, and Manchester. And to talk about Fielding and Nicholson in his own words is the founder, Ian Fielding Calcutt.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Yes, well, I have been in tailoring just over 20 years now. So um yeah, I've always had a love for suits and smart clothing, particularly, and the luxury uh market and the luxury sector. And um I remember one being a five-year-old watching some of the fathers pick up their kids in nice tailored suits. And I've always I've always m admired the suit. Um, I went to when I went to college, I used to wear three-piece suits, used to go out clubbing in uh you know very, very dandy-ish clothing. So I've always um been a massive fan of smart wear. And um yeah, to cut a long story short, I left university, I really didn't have a clue what I wanted to do. So I went from various jobs to jobs to retail to PR to admin. Um, and uh this this role came up and it was um a job in tailoring specifically as a front of house uh working as a wardrobe consultant slash stylist. So working with some of the most successful people of the world, basically styling their clothes and advising, fitting, making, um, you know, doing alterations, making adjustments and and building their uh the bespoke wardrobe. So I thought that is, you know, when you look at a job and you think, well, that is actually me. And um it was just have me written all over it, and I just thought, I've got to go for it. Um, and uh, and that's what I did. So so that was the start of my career in in bespoke tailoring.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Fascinating. Um did you kind of have to learn uh on the on the job basically, because you know it was completely different to what you were doing, what you grew up doing and studying.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Yeah, I did, I did, yeah. So there's a lot of on on the job shadowing and training. There was about six months worth of just sort of uh of this shadowing and and learning and learning and learning, you know, reading every single book I could on styling and clothing and um learning all the sort of inter uh the the alterations process inside out. So how you how you um basically re-mould a suit from from scratch, how you build a suit, how in the history of the suit, how where the suit originated from, and and also all about shirts, all about casual clothing. And yeah, so it was a very, very extensive um amount of training, but also in client relationship management, so how to sort of deal with people and how to deal with your clients, so how to work with um uh you know specialist clientele, which were very, very high-level, ultra high net worth people. So yeah, it wasn't just about the clothing, it was about well, how do you deal with these people? How do you interact? How do you, you know, how do you work respectively, how do you follow up with people and and and do everything in the right way. So so yeah, it was massive, massive learning curve, uh very, very quickly.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Yeah, and so I've actually I trained in a tailoring shop as well, and I found the first three months to be just a real Ivanna. You think that you know a thing or two about fashion, or at least I did writing about it, but then seeing it actual hands-on and the dealing with people, like you say, is it's right. The the having to be yourself in a situation and also letting them be at ease, but you know, having that personable experience with clients when you have almost next to nothing, like in terms of knowledge, to to kind of parlay to them. It's a real hard mix, I found it wasn't something that I could do easily at all. But um, it sounds like you you really took to it though.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

Yeah, I just I just took to it like a duck to water, and um, I think one of my friends who was in the trade at the time, and thinks she she the analogy she made is she was quite into horses, and she said it it's a bit like you know, when you're dealing with an individual, you have to be take care and you have to walk around them as if you would, you know, it's like obviously we're all animals, and and she made a great analogy of how you take care of a client, how you just work with them respectively and don't infringe in their space and all these things that are related to for her, it related to dealing with um with horses. And I just think, yeah, that you can't just go into it heavy-handedly and just treating everyone like a piece of meat. And I think, you know, and I I just cringe sometimes when I see, you know, I go into sort of other other uh suit making establishments and I see the way they deal with people, and it actually just makes me want to cringe because it's almost an art of actually how you deal with respectfully your client. And um, I think so, I don't I feel like that's to an extent has been lost perhaps in you know in some um modern-day establishments.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Yeah, yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. I've had um an experience where I've actually bought a suit when I was quite a bit younger, and even though I bought the suit, I felt like I was really hard-sold the suit, and I almost felt like I needed a shower when I came out there. I'm like, I've got to feel like I'm really like a used car salesman has just sold me a car that I didn't even want, and I've never been back there. I was just thinking it was such a horrible experience. That was my first suit. But you're right, you have to give people their space, you have to give them enough time for them to come to you and open up to you, and you're just kind of like there in the background almost. That's that's the way that I approached it anyway. You still want to obviously make the sale, you still want to get some business, but you'd probably rather not have the business and have someone have a good experience in the shop and then tell their friends about it than the other way around.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And I've had exactly the same experience as you that you had. Uh, you know, I used to buy designer clothing really when I couldn't afford it. I mean, it came from nothing, and you know, I was going into these designer shops and buying a pair of Versace jeans and this kind of thing, you know, I was really excited as an 18-year-old, just you know, got my paycheck and I could afford these expensive jeans. And yeah, you just you're treated like sometimes in these places, like uh, you know, like a second-class citizen, like you shouldn't even be there, and also by people that aren't trained to fit you. You know, you walk out of the store and you think you you look great, and then your your friend or your partner says to you, don't you know, those that that clothing looks horrendous. Like what you know, have you got did you not look in the mirror? And it's just and like I just I suppose I learned a lot from my early days, my love of clothing, but also the bad experience that I had and going into remember that place, like that Chiro Chiteri or Cyro Citeri or whatever it's called, that really uh sort of uh high street, very much a high street retailer of suits. And um walking out of this place and thought, oh you know, like a million dollars. This guy was like, Oh, the fit suit fits fits great, and then and then just looking in the mirror thinking, no, it's it looks like a like a sack, it's horrible.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Yeah, yeah. It looks like your dad's suit or something, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

Yeah, and then everyone's saying, Oh, what are you wearing? I mean, it's just hanging off you.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

It reminds me of the um the scene out of the office, the American version, where where he finds a suit in the skip and he's he wears it to work, but doesn't realize it's a it's a woman's suit and he accidentally cross-dresses, which actually happened to me once. Yeah, you're you're kind of jarring a few memories now. I had this, I won't name the establishment, but I went in and it was it was actually just a shirt. But I put it on, I was like, looks all right, it's just a shirt. I asked the the lady behind the counter and she goes, sure, whatever. I was like, good, whatever. I took it back at my make goes. You you bought a woman's shirt.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Well, look, I mean I I guess, but you know, it still looks good.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

They go, No, it looks terrible. So you've got to take it back.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

Um very tapered through the waist.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Yes, it was. It was very, very cinched. Um, let's let's get I want to get back on track, and I want to talk about Fielding and Nicholson. So it founded in 2006, if if I'm correct, um, maybe you could talk a little bit about the launch pad for the for the company, you know, getting that off the ground. How was it back then? What are your memories of you know taking this business to the forefront?

SPEAKER_02 8:55

Yeah, so it was we started, I started the business with I met my business partner Adam Nicholson at the time, so hence the name Fielding and Nicholson. And we met actually, well, we met in Leicestershire, um, but we started the brand in Manchester because I was living in Manchester at the time, and a bit of a clothing mecca, and what I uh later just discovered was it was a great launch pad for the business, because um there are a lot of people in Manchester who really, really appreciate the way they look and the style and everything, and it you know, it's a great place to be because it's a concentration of people, and I think particularly men, and I think also often men don't necessarily care so much about what they wear, not all the time, but Manchester particularly was a great place to be. So we started the business there and um it grew very, very, very quickly um from sort of just me. I was there probably for for just over a year, and then and then uh we brought it sort of down to London. We started recruiting people, um, tailoring consultants we called. So we then grew up to uh 17 people within about five-year period. And um, so yeah, it became a I would say it was probably about London's sort of second biggest or at least fastest growing tailoring company at one point, and it was definitely at least the second largest um sort of on the visiting side of of tailoring in the in the capital. So yeah, it grew grew very, very quickly, and um, yeah, and then we had to sort of take stock a bit.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Uh-huh. Um, did you move straight away to Sackville Street? That's that's where you are now, is that right?

SPEAKER_02 10:37

Uh no, we didn't. No, we've had um we've had a few establishments and we we had a shop in Charlotte Road in the in the east of London for a period. And um, and that was a great, it was more like a shop window. We had a lot of people um coming in and uh it was quite a big space that we had there, and um, and yeah, we've had uh a couple of places mainly in the east, but then we decided um we just needed to be more in the sort of in the west because it's you know, and I just love where we are now. I'm sure you've been there, but it's sort of the Mayfair area. It's it's very much the I think the artisanal home of tailoring. We we're just literally around the corner from Saville Row, and um, yeah, there's so many artisans there, shoemakers, uh, tailors, hat makers, there's there's everything. So so yeah, we just love being where we are now. I feel like I've finally come come home.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Yeah, you you've arrived. What is I was gonna ask what the um what is your USP or the house signature, whatever you would say makes you different, say, from other tailors, not just on Savile Row, but on Sackfield Street as well.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

Uh yeah, I think the main thing that makes us different is that we don't really market what we do do as we're tailors, we would rather market ourselves more as as stylists who do tailoring. So so we feel like we're actually in a unique pool in a sense, because we don't we're not promoting, oh yeah, okay, we do do fantastic tailoring. It's we would say also some of the best in the world. We work with some of the best tailors in the world. So in terms of the quality of the product, we also put a five-year guarantee, so which uh as far as I'm aware, nobody else does. So if you do if something happens to your clothing within a five-year period, or if you change size even, then we alter it for you free of charge. So so that's that's one of the big so I think going back to the whole sort of whole stylist service thing, and and also I think my bad experiences as growing up, I just wanted it to I want us to offer the best possible service that anyone can get in a tailoring, um, in the tailoring realm. So that's what I'd like to to sort of um deliver. And I think we uh we do everything we can to deliver that and and and I think also our training is you know, we're I think some of the some of the tailors or some of the suit shops you'd walk into, you don't really know necessarily the amount of training that person's got. Whereas the the average tenure with us is over 10 years, um and we we've read every single book there is about styling and tailoring, so it's so the quality of service level is um we we we like to think that it's it's the best that a client can get.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

And how does it work with styling? Do people that come in to the shop do they um have an idea in their head of what looks cool? And then you have to almost supplant your version of what they should be wearing and what should be working with their eye colour, their hair, their shape, etc. How how much is it them putting an impression on what they want versus you telling them the right path?

SPEAKER_02 13:54

I think it it really depends on the on the individual, really. And I think unlike some places, we don't we don't really like to tell the client what they what they're having or what uh what the house style is, or you know, this is what what you're getting, and that's pretty much that's it. You know, I think some people kind of come in and they really know what they want. So they'll say to us, I want you know a navy suit, a grey suit, and a pinstripe suit, I know exactly what I want. And in though in those kind of instances, you don't then want to go, well, oh hang on a minute, you know you don't want that. I'm gonna recommend this and this and this. I would always say, Well, I can recommend, but if you if you're if you know what you want, then um then that's fine. We can just do that. But I think probably about 50% of the people will come in and say, I don't really have a clue what uh what I want. So can you just help me, star me, and and and in that case we'll we we'll do it. So we'll go through not only just their suit wardrobe, you know, their casual wardrobe and their uh their smart casual wardrobe, and when we'll recommend things across across the board to them that, like you say, match with their bicolour, skin colour, um, their body configuration, and uh, and you know, we get all that much as you would if you went to a stylist, but then we don't charge the upfront, the huge upfront fee that you would do with a stylist, and then they would take you out shopping and charge you another fee to take you to the shops and everything else. Yeah, which is which is nuts, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:19

I mean, well I mean I get it, it's a gig, but I mean it's how much of a calorie burner is it to go out and shop where you would normally shop anyway? Uh or go places where you'd normally go, but you're being paid to do it. It must be the greatest gig in the world.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

Yeah, must be great. Yeah, I think when I when I grow up, it's it's what I what I what I want to see for a living. But yeah, this for this uh at the moment, I just love what I do, and I I do, I think the biggest kick I get is when I see clients I've been working with two, three years, and you know, I see the transformation from the first day I met them, and it and and that's what it's all about for me. I just love helping people and um I get to do that through my through through my job.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

And how often are you in the store yourself, Ben?

SPEAKER_02 16:07

Um I'm in the store, yeah, for typically a week of every month. So I um I tend to get my appointments and people do bookings in in in that week.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

So I imagine people would want to, you know, if they're if they're kind of entrusted with you personally. I know you've got a team there, but people might want to come to you personally if you as you've looked after clients for many years, uh getting on nearly 20 years, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So yeah, I do I like to deal with people personally, but um my brother-in-law Lewis works in the business and he's you know just absolutely brilliant at what he does, and he's just like a mirror image of the kind of uh quality and service that I I deliver. And then my other colleague Alex is also, we've worked together for 12 years, and he's he's brilliant at what he does. So it's just it's not like I would ever sort of hand someone over to someone who's just you know like a Saturday guy or something like that. That they, you know, say for example, you were walking into store left, right, and centre, and this is the the feedback I've had from new clients to us. They've gone into X, Y, and Z tailors, and they their usual guy's not there. So then they've dealt with a a Saturday person who is newly trained and who doesn't give them the deliver the service that the person that might have 20 to 30 years worth of experience has got. So that's completely diluted. So and that's what that's what we just I would always just want to avoid happening, you know. I want to give replicate the the service that I'm giving.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

That would have been me back in the day, me as a Saturday boy. When someone comes in and goes, Where's the where's the actual skilled person? I'm like, ah, you just you got me, I'm afraid. I I am gonna name drop, but only because uh it's again it's just come to mind. I was in that tale, I was uh I was working weekends as well, and Ray Winston came into the shop like completely unannounced, and he starts like just kind of he's really nice, he's nice as pie. He's like, Do you want a coffee, Pete? Do you want a coffee? I was like, uh yeah, whatever. So he goes and gets his driver to go up and get a coffee, especially for me around anyway. That's fun. Uh, he goes, Hey, I'll have one of those, one of those. He's kind of pointing aimlessly, but he just needs a lot of stuff. Uh, and I'm so kind of like, fuck, it's Ray Winston in the shop. And I literally just watched one of his films the night before as well. So I wanted to let him know that I know who he is, and that I'm very familiar with his filmography. And in all this, what's running through my mind, I forget to give him his shirts that he pays for at the end, and he just walks out, gets in the car, and goes back to where everything is. And I'm and I go into the fitting room. I'm like, oh my god, I've got like six bags of like of his suits and shirts that's all sitting there. I've sold him, and he's not he's just walked out. So that was that was a tough um conversation to the manager the next day. That was fun. I would have been that Saturday, boys. You're right. You need you need to have the people in there that know what they're doing. Uh, you can't just get someone in for a couple of hours as relief.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

So yeah, you could just imagine him going, Oh, good is here, that map it and I bought him coffee. And I bought him a cafe.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Brilliant. Oh, right. Anyway, um getting back to uh getting back to you.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Uh I I've written down here that you you do shirts as well. Are you a shirt maker as well, Ian? Or do you have shirt makers in house? How does that work?

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Yes, we do do shirts as well. Uh we yeah, we pride ourselves on handmade shirts. We have a lady who makes bespoke shirts. We have one lady, so it's she makes them by hand in her in her home, um, just outside of London. Uh yeah. Um, but yeah, most of the bulk of what we do is we have a shirt. We also have a shirt maker that um they are sort of they are made in a in a um a workshop, but they are there's uh uh 80% handmade um shirts as well. So um so yeah, people can fully handmade or they can have the sort of machine unhandmade as well, depending on budgets, really.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

And how much are people asking? I'm sorry, I'm I'm big into bespoke shirts at the minute. I've kind of got my feet feet in a bespoke shirt world.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

Well, I I you're in the right place, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Yeah, so I'm just curious how how many people are asking for bespoke shirts? Are they coming in and getting different details and then you're going, oh cocktail curves? Nice, yeah, good choice. How how is the uh the sh the bespoke shirt making world in in your business at the minute?

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Yeah, it's very good. Yeah, it's very buoyant. I think now that people a lot of people are wearing like chinos and and shirt combinations for work, so now the expression is more potentially in a in a in a shirt than it would be in a suit in it, you know, in the past. So yeah, so most people who come in will ask about uh bespoke shirts, and um everyone who comes in looking for a for a suit will also sort of will also do shirts for as well as a standard because there's an old saying I learned my my my training is that well there's no point putting a bespoke suit with a non-custom shirt. So it's like putting plastic hubcats on a on a on a Maserati, isn't it? It just doesn't I know that sounds extremely cheesy in looking back, but uh it's it's so true, isn't it? It's like why would you underdress a very, very expensive suit that you've just just paid a lot of money for.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And it and it it does kind of show as well. Like you can see how good a a bespoke suit looks, and then if they haven't gone to town on a shirt as well, it kind of something maybe not consciously soft, but subconsciously people can look and go, something isn't quite right there.

SPEAKER_02 21:47

You know, but yeah, that's all right. Yeah, but I think so. If you're investing in yourself, then why not go the go the whole hog in a thing and we would always recommend getting getting shirts made with this with a with a suit or shirts made with a jacket just to kind of complete the look, yeah, like you say.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

So I might have let me just dial it back a sec, Ian. Are you a trained cutter yourself or you have a you have a master cutter there?

SPEAKER_02 22:12

Yeah, no, I'm I'm not a trained cutter. Yeah, my the master cutter uh Raymond, he we work kind of hand in glove together. So he's he does all the cutting and then we kind of talk together, we exchange photographs and we we meet to discuss uh or some as often we'll meet with the client. So if the client also um wants to and uh sometimes I suggest that we meet the client with with the cutter and uh so then by the end Raymond will both meet with meet with the client and then we do everything together and um yeah much like it's sort of the front of house and Savile Row for example I I work we work as a sort of front of house plus styling the client but also then work very very closely with the cutter. And Raymond has I want to say he's been around the block I'm not sure if that's the the most polite way of saying it but he's very well experienced is probably the is the corrector he is yes he has been been around the block yeah that it's yeah that that is fair to say he's worked with some of the best tailors in the world he's worked with royalty he's um yeah what he's he's seen it all really um we have a an ongoing joke no one knows how old Raymond is because he's just disclosed he's so he could be uh you know any age I think he's just timeless I think he's just gonna live forever basically yeah it's when you start asking well which royalty was it Queen the first Victoria which generation are we talking about?

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Yeah that's interesting well I mean it's great to have someone at hand I guess that has seen so much as well you know and by the sounds of it has has encountered maybe 99% of all problems that you might face in the in the in the cutting shop down there.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

Yeah exactly and it you know you can't it's it's good to have a great team isn't it you can't when when you're dealing with the upper echelons of society and people who are are spending their hard earned cash you want to provide the best possible service and I think you you you know it's good to have two three four eyes maybe on on uh four sets of eyes on on the work. Yeah very interesting listen um Ian I'm just running out of time on the call and I know you've got a hard out but can you just tell us what's in store for for the rest of the year and are you doing any trunk shows um you know can people get hold of you internationally yes yeah we are we're doing monthly uh trunk shows in in Switzerland so we have a uh partner who's a shoemaker called Reish shoes which are in uh incidentally excellent shoes they're also made to mesh shoes but they also do uh off the peg uh shoes and they're based in in Zurich Switzerland so we um we have a room there that we use every once a month um we also have tailoring partners in in New York so we're doing a trick show in New York uh next month so um if people are interested just let me know for for dates or contact me on LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

Cool and um Instagram I was gonna say as well oh Instagram yeah fielding and nicholson the website fieldingandicholson.com we'll leave all the links in the show notes so that people can get hold of you for appointments and and check out the website itself which then we're doing an event with Panorai Watches as well on the 6th of July oh where's that?

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Yeah you know uh Panorai Watch is in Newborn Street so we're doing we're doing a um it's gonna be a whiskey showcase in uh and and obviously there's the experience of the watches and watch making and tailoring you know they all these things go together don't they so that's on on the 6th of July so we're we're excited out about that and um uh yeah lots of lots of plans at online shop and then a web website revamp so it is very very busy and maybe my own podcast as well if I uh if I actually get around to it how about burying the lead you mentioned that right at the end what's gonna what's happening with the podcast is it gonna be uh obviously tailoring based you know you get guests on clients well yeah I was thinking but I think I mean you're a you know you're you're excellent at what you do but I love the kind of thing you do talking to people I like I I'd rather actually be listening to other people than than talking myself so I think I've got a lot of interesting friends and clients so it's I was thinking something more along the lines of tailored for success so tailoring inspirations for my clients and friends who who've become successful and how clothing has played a part in the you know their their rise to success for the you know that kind of thing so so yeah it's in its early stages now but uh any advice be much greatly received oh well the only advice I can give you is just make sure you send me a link so that I can listen to it because uh I'll be on board um I mean it all dovetails doesn't it I mean obviously people want to dress well they want to you know build themselves up they want to amplify themselves boost their career be taken seriously be you know show respect for the room that they're in wear something nice and good things will follow so yeah that's that kind of makes sense to to marry the two of those yeah exactly and if you can help a few people along the way that's you know that's what I'm trying to trying to achieve really well you'll have to have me on course yeah that'd be great all right we'll take this off Mike we'll we'll firm up the dates uh off air but um brilliant listen Ian thanks so much for jumping on really great talking to you uh fielding and nicholson the place to go and uh I hope to speak to you soon if you've been listening to the menswear style podcast be sure to head over to menswearstyle.co.uk for more menswear content and email info at menswearstyle.co.uk if you would like to be a future guest on the show.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Finally please help support the show by leaving a review on iTunes or wherever you're listening to this podcast. Until next time