Bespoke tailors · Philadelphia · since 1921
Ridley & Sons
Four generations of one family, cutting cloth in the same room. Everything is made by hand, to your measure, in about twelve weeks. There is no other way it is done here.
Telephone for an appointment · (215) 555-0137The firm, in order
- 1921
- Thomas Ridley opens a two-room workshop, cutting for the shipping offices.
- 1954
- His son Edward takes the shears. The firm moves to the house it still occupies.
- 1988
- Margaret Ridley, the third generation and the first woman to run the house.
- 2019
- Her son James cuts alongside her. Two cutters, one book, and a waiting list of a season.
The cut
A pattern drafted for you and kept, on card, in the book. It is not reused, and it is not sold.
The cloth
English and Scottish mills, mostly; some Italian. You will be shown the bolt, not a swatch.
The fittings
Three, at the house. A fourth if either of us thinks it needs one.
Prices are given at the first appointment, and in writing. A two-piece suit begins at a figure we would rather discuss in person.
Ridley & Sons is invented, and so is its history. Notice what the style refuses: nothing moves across the page, nothing arrives in under a second, and the name is the last thing on the screen to appear — the founding year comes first.