It’s 1964, and a 19-year-old John Davis, freshly absconded from an unwanted job in accountancy, is standing in the presence of greatness.
“Tailoring really appealed to me, so I went down to Kilgour, French & Stanbury on Dover Street, which was one of the big, top two firms,” says John.
“I sort of got the man himself – I saw Fred Stanbury, and he chatted to me and asked why do you want to be a tailor? I told him everything, how I loved fashion. He just picked the phone up and found a guy who needed an apprentice.”
Creative by nature, John soon took to his craft, and completed his tailoring apprenticeship within just two-and-a-half years.
It was the start of a fabulous, six-decade career that has seen John work for tailoring houses including Kilgour’s, Benson & Clegg, and Mr Fish, before purchasing Tobias Tailors at 32, Savile Row, and running that business for twenty years.
Pork and kippers
During his formative years on Savile Row, John immersed himself in a trade whose culture and practices dated back to the 1950s, 40s or even earlier.
“Back then, finishers – the ones who put all the buttonholes in and do the hand stitching – were called ‘kippers’, because they always went around in pairs,” says John.
“If a company phoned you up and said I’ve got a ‘skiffle’, that meant they wanted you to make something in a day or two – a really fast job.
“And ‘pork’ was a garment that was dead. You made it, the client didn’t like it, so now it’s up on a shelf and no one knows what’s going to happen to it.
“There used to be a ‘pork man’ who would wander around Savile Row, asking, ‘Does anyone want to sell their pork?’, and you’d get like £30 or £40 for it. If it didn’t fit anyone, you might as well let the pork man take it.
“These are mostly lovely old terms from East-End Jewish tailors.”
Swingin’ Savile Row
On 1960s Savile Row, revolution looked like an open window.
“In the 40s, and maybe before the war, you couldn’t get into Kilgour’s, Huntsman’s or any of the Savile Row companies without a recommendation from a current client,” says John.
“It was all blacked out windows with just a name on the shop front – even until the 60s in some cases.
“The opening up of the windows came about when people like Michael Fish and Tommy Nutter started showing their suits off. Tommy had these huge lapels and this Indian flared look, with leather on the edge as well.”
“It was controversial at the time. The regulation lapel on Savile Row, in the 50-odd years I’ve been there, is 3½″. Tommy was making these narrow shoulders and then the lapels that came out to meet the sleeves. There was lots of tutting going on at all the old, established Savile Row companies.”
A man for all seasons
John has been a fixture on Savile Row for the last sixty years – almost one third of the street’s tailoring history. He’s worked with some of the world’s leading tailors, served clients including Elvis Costello and Squeeze founder Chris Difford, witnessed The Beatles’ rooftop concert at their Savile Row HQ, and purchased a storied tailoring business, Tobias Tailors, which initially hired him after an impromptu guitar performance at a London wine bar. We’d struggle to capture the whole story in a book, let alone in this article.
Tobias Tailors is still very much in business, although the company has relocated from Savile Row to a garden studio, where John collaborates with his daughter and fellow tailor, Roxanne. While the pair is currently focused on tailoring work outsourced from other companies, Tobias Tailors retains a house style that speaks to John’s long career in the trade.
“Our style is very Kilgour’s, with a bit of Huntsman’s thrown in,” says John.
“The days of drape are gone, so we now make a reasonably fitted coat, but it’s got a nice line to it. When you look at it on the dummy, it goes in at the waist and comes out again, so when a guy puts it on, we can still get that waist suppression and give them some shape.”
The next generation
Roxanne Davis is among the relatively few young craftspeople now making garments for Savile Row tailors. As John nears his retirement, helping Roxanne – and other young tailors – has become his focus.
“Roxanne has learned in a short time like I did, but she learned at the end of the garden, so she was working together with me 24/7,” he says.
“She makes a really fine coat now, and she works for two Savile Row firms. Both of them are quite adventurous – they don’t stick to the old blues and greys like some of the more established Savile Row companies, so we get to make some nice stuff.”
From September 2024 till February 2025, John is taking on a new challenge: training a cohort of young tailors at the London Academy of Bespoke (LAB). It’s a chance to pass the knowledge of a lifetime on to the next generation.
As tailoring tradition dictates, John will one day bequeath his fabulous collection of shears to Roxanne – and we’re proud to say that now includes an Ernest Wright pair, which John has customised by flattening the points.
“I think she’s gonna take the reins in the very near future, probably next year, because I’ve had enough to the point where I don’t want to be pushed on turnaround times – although I still like going out and doing two or three days at the workshop with her,” says John.
“When I stop, she’ll get the lot.”
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