Carl Stuart Tailors: Inside one of the last remaining Yorkshire bespoke suit makers

In 2025, having a suit made is a special and costly undertaking, and there are many reasons for doing so, often deeply personal.

Writer and nuclear scientist Tim Gregory had two reasons: for his wedding in the Lake District to Amy, and because needed a smart, put-together look for his book cover, and to wear on speaking tours. “As a born and bred Yorkshireman - originally from Tingley - he loved the fact that the suit was made in Yorkshire, and even had a Yorkshire Rose embroidered on the inside pocket flap of his jacket,” says Carl Stuart owner Emily White.

Kelsea Heath commissioned her two-piece teal velvet suit for her wedding to Caitlin. “One of Kelsea and Caitlin’s shared loves is walking outside and enjoying nature together,” says Emily. “As a nod to that, Kelsea selected a deep maroon coloured lining with a woodland animal motif for her jacket and trousers.”

Artist Richard Kitson, from Barnsley, wanted a beautifully tailored suit for his self-portrait, reflecting his profession as an artist, and for professional engagements and meeting clients. Emily says: “Richard had to be exceptionally careful so as not to get paint on his suit while creating his masterpiece.”

Paul Waters chose a dark green herringbone wool tweed two-piece suit for his outdoor autumn marriage to Jane. “Paul and Jane’s song is ‘Sit Down Next To Me’ by James, and Paul had the title of the song embroidered on the inside pocket flap of his jacket,” Emily says.

Carl Stuart Tailors made them all, although this is a nom de plume. This week Emily has been in London, picking up a Drapers Award 2025 for Best Independent Customer Experience – testament to the service and attention to detail that the Carl Stuart tailoring team gives to its clients and the garments that they commission.

The business’s origins began in 1929 in Ossett under master tailor Harold Leighton. In 1963, Walter Grimes, who had worked there, took over and chose “Carl Stuart” as the new name, after a friend.

Walter became one of the most influential and talented master tailors in the UK. He died in 2017, and Emily White bought Carl Stuart Tailors in 2020 from his daughter, Jane Firth.

Originally from Georgia in the US, Emily was working for a technology company when she transferred to manage a team in London. She moved to Yorkshire during Covid, and now lives in Harrogate.

The pandemic was a tough time for all business but especially tailoring. Nevertheless, Emily set about transforming much of the Ossett premises, creating a fitting and showroom on the ground floor.

Staff has been cut from 60 to 20. “When we closed the shop in Leeds last year, that’s when we created this space,” Emily says.

“We've done away with hire wear. We don't do anything off the peg anymore. We just make individual unique pieces, so there's cutters, pressers, and then the hand sewers and sewing machinists.”

On the top floor is the cutting room and a chillout space for staff, the first floor is the sewing room, and downstairs is pressing. “When we took over, we divided the business into two separate ones - Carl Stuart Tailors Limited, retail side, White Feather Mills, manufacturing side,” she says. “It's always been a remarkable company with incredible skills.”

The same team makes around 50 garments a week, most for the White Feather Mills trade customers, retailers of tailored clothing, and 10 or so for the Carl Stuart Tailors business.

Traditionally, clients have been mainly men, but this year has seen a 50-50 men-women split. “We're getting a lot of brides in, which is pretty cool,” says Emily. “They want a nicely tailored suit to wear for the wedding. The last three that I've done have been in Hunter Green.”

Another recent client was a young woman barrister who wanted a capsule wardrobe with which to start her professional career.

Clients can choose from a selection of house cloths, including cloth woven in Yorkshire, and selections of cloth from the likes of Moons, Marton Mills, and from merchants Bateman Ogden, as well as Holland and Sherry.

Young staff can be hard to find, and university does not necessarily equip them with the skills needed, but Emily is keen that tailoring expertise is passed on to a new generation. “Our recent hire is 23, and I think our oldest person here is 62,” she says. “The older people train the younger people. They're very good at what they do. They need people to teach.”

When a client comes in to Carl Stuart Tailors for a bespoke suit, they first choose fabric, lining and style, perhaps bringing in a photo of something they have seen and liked. Then comes measuring, which Emily does, having been trained by lead cutter Jackie.

“We take about 30 measurements, and we take pictures front, side, back, and all of that goes to our cutting team, because they cut every piece by hand.

“About four or five weeks after that, they come back. We'll put the garment on them, not finished.

“We've got a fully floating three-layer canvas, which is the distinguishing difference between our garments and most other tailors,” she says as she shows me a jacket under construction. “This is a goat hair canvas. This is a horse hair canvas. And then this is the cotton domette laid over the top. So that gives it its structure, but it also allows the person to breathe underneath, whereas most tailors make this canvas with polyester and they glue it in.

“We put this on the client, pin it, chalk it, make it fit them just right, and then we send it back upstairs to the tailoring team to either finish off, or we'll do a second base baste if we feel like that's necessary.”

On the rails in the fitting room are garments waiting for clients, including tailored shirts (which cost about £300), blazers, coats and shooting jackets. Clients come from across the UK, especially Yorkshire. “With tailoring it seems like word of mouth works best,” Emily says.

A two-piece made to measure suits starts at £1,500; a three-piece at £1,900. Bespoke suits would be approximately double that.

Made to measure garments start with a set block, adjusted based on images and the measurements. Bespoke orders mean that a specific block is built for the client.

“Fast fashion has had its moment,” Emily says. “The environment can't take much more of that. We do everything we can to help the longevity of that garment, we offer a complimentary factory dry clean and repress once a year for all of our garments.

“If you take it to a dry cleaner and they use chemicals, it can strip the lanolin off the wool.

“There is a little bit more of, ‘if I'm going to spend this amount of money, I want it to last’. Every one of our garments has a tag on the inside that has the month and the year that it was purchased.”

carl-stuart.co.uk