A tailor who began her fashion industry training at Hull College is bringing Savile Row style to Hull by building her own business and passing on her skills.
Demand is rising for the bespoke suits made by Gillian Long and her team at Cock of the Walk in Grimston Street. Now, by customer demand, the business is expanding to offer handmade shirts.
Gillian said: “We used to say we had 40 pieces of work on the go at one time but it’s between 50 and 60 at the moment.
“The next step is a soft launch of our shirt making service. It’s come from customers coming in for suits, seeing a few shirts and wanting to buy some.”
Gillian moved to Hull with her family from Wigan in 1988. She studied at St Mary’s College and then Hull College before taking the advice to go to London.
She said: “I did a degree at Rochester in fashion construction, far enough out of London to make it a bit more affordable but close enough to go there for inspiration.
“I graduated in 2005 and majored in menswear but didn’t think I had the skills to make clothes so I decided to start with the hardest thing I could, which was fine tailoring.
“While at university I’d developed some contacts in Savile Row. I wrote letters and rang people up but there was nothing doing so I decided to knock on their doors. I spent a day with Gieves & Hawkes at 1 Savile Row and although I didn’t realise it at the time I was being tested. My future master was watching to see if he could work with me. I became a coat making apprentice and was there for two years.”
Gillian returned to Hull via Manchester, working from home and then from a back room at Poorboy Boutique in Princes Quay Shopping Centre before moving to Grimston Street. But she still goes to Savile Row once a month.
She said: “Holland & Sherry let us use their offices in Savile Row for meetings. We just book the board room once a month and we meet our customers there.
“Before we started doing that about 10 months ago we were meeting people in pubs, hotels or their houses. We see more people now because we don’t have to travel between fittings and I can manage a couple more meetings at Kings Cross before I get the train back.
“It started when one of the reps from one of the cloth companies came here and was very surprised with what they saw. Most clothing businesses are shiny shops with sales people, they don’t make anything.
“But we are not a fancy shop in any way, we are a working shop. People come and have a look at their suit while it’s being made, they sit down and have a brew and look at the cloth books.”
Shirts are the responsibility of 19-year-old Lydia Wilson, who joined Cock of the Walk from Wilberforce College because she didn’t want to go to university. The third member of the team is Kerry Kirkwood, a trained physiotherapist who wanted to go into tailoring and has mastered the notorious “buttonhole test”.
Gillian said: “I have had many trainees because I am adamant that the skills are not going to die out but Kerry is the first to pass buttonholes. It takes about six months to get through that.”
Kathryn Shillito, HullBID City Centre Manager, said: “Cock of the Walk is another example of the hidden gems which are to be found among Hull’s business community.
“We know from our own Fashion Week events that the city has an array of high quality and very creative clothing businesses but Cock of the Walk is one of the few places to be able to offer genuine Savile Row style outside London.”
