Interview with Andrew Hudson
We have been doing trunk shows for over 35 years in the United States visiting our American customers. Our experienced team travels to New York, Washington and Chicago every year to bring bespoke tailoring to you. Look at our seasonal fabrics from the world’s top mills and get your exact measurements to create a quality shirt from us. For further insight on our USA trunk shows, then read our interview with the Head of Made to Measure, Mr Andrew Hudson:
What is a trunk show?
I think a trunk show is an American phrase, you think of these American sales men travelling around selling their goods. For us our trunk show is a sales visit for Made to Measure (MTM) orders and a PR trip. In addition, the trunk show helps us maintain a good relationship with our American customers.
When was the trunk show established and How did the trunk show begin?
The USA trunk show started in the 70s as a small sales and PR trip with my parents and Richards’s parents travelling around America. The focus at that time was to sell our stock to American stores like Neiman Marcus. During this time, our customer base was growing rapidly. The trunk show was particularly important in the late 80s, when the Lockerbie accident happened and stopped many of our American customers travelling to the Europe, so to retain our customers we had to visit them in the USA.
Where do you travel for the trunk show?
We travel around the East Coast, so we visit American customers in New York and Washington. We also visit Chicago once a year.
How long does our trunk show last?
Our trunk shows lasts between 7 to 10 days.
What should our customers expect when attending our trunk show?
A warm welcome and a similar experience to what you would find in our Jermyn Street store. We bring all our fabrics from the different mills, so that customers can see the quality and pattern of the fabrics to create their desired shirt. The fabrics you’ll find will be from our latest season. We also have a selection of our most recent ties, handkerchiefs, bow ties and cravats.
Our trunk show is a good opportunity to take orders for our customers. It is also good for new customers to try our ready-to-made shirts for sizing and quality, so that they can later order from us online. It’s about starting a relationship with the customers.
What are the benefits of a trunk show?
The most important thing is keeping that personal relationship with our customer. We are a small company and we like to think that we have with a friendship with our customer. We want to keep them happy and come back to order Made to Measure shirts from us.
We offer good customer relation, good advice and share are years of experience with our customer.
Is there an opportunity to expand the trunk show to other countries?
Not the moment. If we did decide to more trunk shows, then it would have to be somewhere in Europe, either Germany or Scandinavia. If we ever get high request from customers from a specific country, then we would consider vising there.
Why are trunk shows held in hotels?
We like to do it at the same hotel every year, so that customers get used to knowing where to visit us. Certainly in New York, we’ve built up a very good relationship with the staff at the hotel.
How many people can you expect to visit you in a day?
We get 10 customers a day visiting our trunk show.
What else do you do whilst in the USA?
We like to see a few musicals and blues concerts when we can. My favourite thing to do is get on a roll coaster. Occasionally customers will take us out for dinner, which is nice.
