On Savile Row, home of the made-to-measure suit, first tailor’s shop run by women for women has opened its doors

Daisy Knatchbull founded The Deck to design made-to-measure suits for women, and relishes shaking up what has been until now a very male-dominated environment

Its shop in London’s home of tailoring is aimed at the luxury market, with suits starting at US$2,850, and an all-female staff on hand for design and fittings

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Daisy Knatchbull, founder of The Deck, stands outside her new premises on Savile Row in London. It is the only shopfront tailors exclusively for women on the street, which is renowned for its bespoke suits. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:15pm, 27 Sep 2020Updated: 8:15pm, 27 Sep 2020

For more than 200 years, Savile Row in London’s elegant Mayfair district has been the place to go for discerning men in search of the perfect, tailor-made suit.

Now, for the first time, a tailoring house has opened on the storied street that offers made-to-measure suits exclusively for women.

“We’re called The Deck because it’s about reshuffling the deck,” said founder Daisy Knatchbull. “We are the first tailoring house to focus on women to have a shopfront on Savile Row,” which she described as a very male-dominated environment.

“So things are changing,” she said. “Suits for women isn’t just a trend. It’s here to stay.”

Knatchbull called her tailoring house The Deck as ‘it’s about reshuffling the deck’ on Savile Row. Photo: Reuters

Another woman, Phoebe Gormley, operated a women’s-only tailoring business, Gormley & Gamble, on Savile Row from 2014 in premises kept by a men’s tailoring business, and now has a store in Maddox Street around the corner from Savile Row; The Deck, however, has opened its own shop.

Knatchbull launched her business in 2019 in affluent Chelsea, further west, but when an opportunity came up to move to Savile Row she felt it was too good to pass up, despite the dire economic circumstances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.