We are delighted to announce that The London Academy of Bespoke (LAB, as it is known within our community) is now the official training partner of the Savile Row Bespoke Association (SRBA) and has joined us as an associate member.

The SRBA was founded in 2004 to both promote and protect the craft of Savile Row bespoke tailoring, and nothing is more crucial to that than bringing through the next generation of tailors to work on our unique street. Our apprenticeship scheme was launched in 2007 and since then over one hundred young people have graduated and gone on to work at the highest level of handcrafted tailoring. SRBA membership conditions stipulate that members must participate in the apprenticeship scheme and employ at least one apprentice at all times.

LAB offers a broad range of bespoke tailoring training and will now deliver a new pre-apprenticeship course from September 2024, specifically designed to provide SRBA member houses with a steady stream of pre-prepared candidates for in-house apprenticeships. Currently based at 19 Savile Row, LAB will eventually move to a purpose-built space at the redeveloped West End Central police station site at 27 Savile Row.

Founded in 2016 by Victoria Townsend - who completed her own SRBA apprenticeship in 2012 - LAB’s teachers are all Savile Row-trained cutters and makers that care passionately about sharing their knowledge and ensuring the future of bespoke tailoring on our street.

Victoria comments: “Not only do we form a trade approved route into bespoke tailoring as a career for individuals, but we also work hard to inspire next-generation tailors to take up the challenge of becoming a master of their craft and to intuitively realise astute attention to detail in every garment they make. We demonstrate clearly that they can be part of an inclusive network of trades people practising the finest art of sustainable garment construction that there is, which is bespoke tailoring.”

Full details of LAB’s pre-apprenticeship courses can be found on its website.