From belts to bespoke suits, wallets, chukka boots, umbrellas, pyjamas, overcoats, cologne, underwear polo and formal shirts every item can boast a large degree of classic British style. Apropos, Hackett has also collaborated with many great brands such as British Army Polo, Henley Royal Regatta and Aston Martin who share this ethic and, as such, have become entirely synonymous with classic British style of the kind that David Niven or Dork Bogarde would have appreciated.
Indeed, this is all down to the companies founder, Bristol born, Jeremy Hackett who, the quintessential British gentleman of taste, oversees all even down to the selection of fragrances in their new range of colognes, one aptly named Black Tea, made in partnership with Murdock the celebrated barbers and creators of fine male grooming and skincare products.
I’ve known Jeremy for many years and recall his first store in Fulham in 1983 when I, seeing a certain irony in dressing like a 1930’s Toff, travelled to pick up a pair of his celebrated cricket whites and ended up going home with half the store. A perfect gentleman then and a perfect gentleman now, it was a thoroughgoing pleasure to meet him at one of his favourite haunts, Café Colbert on Sloane Square, and shoot
H
ackett is now a multi national global brand with 150 stores in more than 30 countries selling everything a chap might need in the way of clothing, luggage and accessories.
the breeze for a few hours of an afternoon.
I remember your first store vividly as it was one of the very few places in the world where one might find great quality vintage British kit from the 1920 till the 60s.
JH-Yes, the shop in Fulham - a residential area- and after the first few weeks it just took off. Everything was carefully selected and filtered through to make sure everything in the shop was fantastic. People queued up to see what I had found that day. But, it didn’t look like a musty second-hand clothing store, but a very clean, elegant, handsome gentleman’s boutique. I started by buying and then selling second hand clothes. I scoured the flea markets in Portobello, buying unique pieces of English clothing. I'd often go to private individuals and sometimes buy up their whole wardrobe. I did this at one house - the brother of Jack Buchanan [the celebrated Scottish theatre and film actor, singer, dancer, producer and director who was the quintessential debonair man-about-town] and bought all these hand made Savile Row suits -every single suit had a pair of braces underneath. Impeccable. This was in about 1985/1986. I bought all these suits, took all the braces off and sold them for a tenner each which made back the money I spent on the suits. I turned this shop into Hackett the brand because basically, we were running out of good vintage stock, so to meet the demands of all of our customers; I opened a store next door and manufactured new pieces that emulated the classic designs. That’s how Hackett London was born. Then the rest was history.