Oxford Tailor

Why buy your tailored suit in Oxford?

So, the real question is – why would you need to travel to London to get your own tailor-made suit, when we have our own ‘Saville Row’ right here in the heart of our beautiful, world-renowned, heritage town of Oxford?

Walters of Oxford have been crafting and making tailor-made suits, jackets, waistcoats, blazers and trousers for over 150 years. Walters even had the honour of providing, made-to-measure, military uniform to officers who served in World War II.

Heritage, history, and attention to detail is so ingrained in us that we feel that after 150 years of expertise, knowledge and craftsmanship, we deliver only the very finest to our customers. This is why it is so important to us, at Walters, to meet our customers in person and to ensure we have your clothing perfectly tailored for you. All our suits are lovingly and delicately crafted and customers are served from our central Oxford store. At Walters, we use UK-based mills for our fabrics, and have a great scope for choice for customers.

What can you expect when commissioning a Tailor-Made Suit from Walters of Oxford?

1. Come and see us – make your first visit to our shop, or make an appointment for us to visit you in your home. Let’s not forget, this is no ordinary purchase, face to face advice and measuring is essential for the very best results – some things just simply can’t be done as well online!
2. Learning more about you – is priceless in our journey to making you feel amazing in your new suit. This appointment will involve you being measured up and to try on a range of suit styles you might like.
3. 2500 different types of fabrics – We have roughly 2500 different types of fabrics covering various tweeds and coating, and many different colours to choose from. You will be able to view our different styles of suit for inspiration to help make that all important final piece.
4. Buttons and linings – You’ll also be able to choose your lining and buttons to personalise it that bit further. These small details can really make a big impact when you order your suit – the devil, as they say, is in the detail.
5. A broader repertoire – You may also wish to be measured for one of our fine tweed jackets or blazers. Or perhaps you need a tailor-made overcoat or waistcoat? Dresswear, morning wear and trousers are also in our repertoire of clothing available for tailoring.
6. Try it on and lets see how it fits – your second appointment which will be roughly 4 to 5 weeks later will be for you to try your beautiful new suit on, to feel first hand all the love and hard work that has gone into this amazing piece of craftsmanship, and to have any minor alterations made if necessary. Nothing is ever too much trouble.
7. The finished garment – the third and final appointment is for you to receive your final garment! We won’t settle for second best, we only settle for perfect. We’ll make sure you feel like you’re as sharply dressed as ever and delighted with your new purchase.

With exceptional customer service being of such great importance to us, you can be sure your experience will be second to none when you visit. We want it to be a memorable journey and for you to feel only the very highest levels of comfort and satisfaction giving you real confidence in your new suit as you wear it in the days ahead. We also hope that your time with us will surpass all expectations and that you will want to shout from the rooftops about your time here at Walters! This is what we strive for, and word of mouth from our customers is invaluable to us.

Please do come and visit us in store, you can find our location on our contact page, we would love to see you and just remember – your local Oxford Tailor is ready and waiting for you!

A few fun and interesting facts about Tailoring from when it first began

1. The term ‘tailoring’ goes back hundreds of years, historians believe it was around the 13th century. It essentially means to ‘alter’ or create something, more particularly men’s clothing. This would often be a full suit or a jacket.
2. Years ago, the quality of someone’s clothing often indicated their position in society or their social class. Only the rich could afford good quality fabrics and these kinds of suits were expensive! It would be easy to differentiate between someone that had their suit made specifically by a tailor with quality fabrics, against those who needed a hardwearing and practical suit for day to day life.
3. Tailoring and more broadly textiles, used to support many families by means of work and still employs a great many people in the UK and Wordwide. The UK’s world class textile manufacture base is growing today employing over 108,000 people with continued growth projected.

A interesting reference – Sarah Bendall goes back to the 17th century in Oxford and has found out some fascinating history about modern fashions back then, and how tailoring created many jobs for families in and around Oxford. You can read more about this on her website here.