Thom Sweeney Opens The Doors To Its London Townhouse
An 18-month-long labour of love, the Thom Sweeney townhouse opened it doors this week. Sat just behind Savile Row, it is a proper menswear shop, with navy blue cashmere coats, fisherman knit jumpers and high shine dress shoes (a collaboration with Crockett & Jones no less). It is a fully functioning tailors, with swatches of fabric and men in immaculate suits with tape measurers around their necks busying around in the basement. It is a place where you can buy a dinner jacket and a pair of trainers, be fitted for an overcoat, play a game of snooker and drink a negroni out of a crystal tumbler, possibly all at the same time.
It is a real life bricks and mortar shop that hopes to cater to whatever suit, tie or casual taste a man might have.
"The townhouse marks the start of an exciting chapter for Thom Sweeney," says co-founder, Thom Whiddett. "We’re excited to have moved onto Old Burlington Street, bringing fresh energy to neighbouring Savile Row –an address that’s synonymous with Great British tailoring. We’re also thrilled to present a modern vision for a tailor’s shop, with space to unwind as well as to meet our team and browse the collection. This new store is as much a home away from home for our customers, as it is a hub for bespoke tailoring."
You'd be lucky have a home that looks anything like this. Set over four floors and 3,100 sq ft, the changing rooms are fitted with midcentury furniture and specially-designed lighting for extra flattery. The pool table is bespoke, as are the mannequins and the marble bar tops (that's where your Japanese whisky is coming from) and the consultation table and... you get the idea. The walls lined with photos of old school men of means, your Alis, McQueens and Brandos and skiing scenes from Slim Aarons. There is a Pankhurst barbershop in the basement and a top floor space that can be used for hosting and as a pop-up restaurant space.
It helps that the clothes are as impressive as the marble fixtures. The padded parkas come fitted with Loro Piana Storm System weatherproofing. There are dinner jackets in deep green velvet and, intriguingly, white corduroy. There are soft-shouldered cashmere overcoats in navy and charcoal, ties (ties!), sunglasses, beanie hats in neutral colours and, if you are wfh for the foreseeable, track pants. Don't worry, they're cashmere. A particular highlight was a forest green double-breasted corduroy suit, the kind of suit that makes you want to wear a suit again.
Opening a high-end shop during a pandemic might seem like an act of reckless abandon or amateur hubris, but Whiddett and his co-founder, Luke Sweeney, have experience in succeeding in the midst of shaky circumstances
"We opened our first store in 2007, just after the collapse of Lehman Brothers," saysWhiddett, "and that worked."
Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more delivered straight to your inbox.
Need some positivity right now? Subscribe to Esquire now for a hit of style, fitness, culture and advice from the experts
You Might Also Like
