Lawrence Jacket: Production Update No.7
On the 29th of April 2023, after 4 years, 3 months and 6 days of development, our first jacket went on sale.
It took just 34 hours, 24 minutes and 16 seconds to sell out.
Given that each jacket is hand crafted in limited numbers, the process of getting from order through to delivery isn’t always plain sailing. That said, it’s incredibly important to me that our customers are kept fully informed and up to date throughout production.
Rather than keep everything behind closed doors, what follows is the seventh full production update email that was sent out to our first customers.
One of the difficulties of manufacturing in the UK is how little investment has gone in to the industry over the years. As production became cheaper and cheaper off shore, most of the full-service factories shut their doors for good.
What that means is that in order to get the Lawrence made, most of the elements that make up the whole jacket are undertaken by separate individuals.
One of these elements is the button holes.
You might have seen on Instagram that I'd found and worked with Meredith, a tailor in Nottingham with a Reece 101 keyhole button maker. A specialist machine, it stitches and cuts beautiful and functional keyhole button holes.
The problem is that using the machine and maintaining it are both skillsets that are dying out.
Last week, I called up Meredith to check in, only to find that he's just celebrated his 85th birthday and finally decided to take his well earned retirement.
Cutting and sewing keyhole buttons on a Reece 101
So what does this mean?
It means that I'm currently in overdrive to find a solution. While I was congratulating Meredith, I offered to buy his Reece 101. Unfortunately, the technician who's been servicing the machine for the past 40 years has also just retired.
These are complex machines and need an experienced hand to make sure they're set up correctly depending on the weight and thickness of the fabric that it needs to cut and sew. So, even if I could buy the machine, I wouldn't have the support to make sure it was working correctly.
So, as of today, I have 3 leads that I'm following up. Two are in London and one is up in Bolton. I'm booked in to see each of them over the next two weeks and will be taking a handful of sample cuffs with me to check out the standard of their work.
Interfacing pressed on to gabardine cotton pattern pieces
The good news is that everything else is progressing beautifully. All the gabardine, interfacing, ribbed cuffing and lining patterns have been cut and, last time I was in the studio, the interfacing was being pressed and fixed to the gabardine.
Once that's done, we're on to the stitching phase. This will start with the smaller elements like the epaulettes, cuffs, collars and pocket flaps and move on to the larger elements like the bodies and sleeves. The lining needs to be stitched separately and the pocket bags attached before it's then stitched into the gabardine outer.
There are so many elements to this stage, I could go on and on but instead, I'll be heading over to capture some more photos once this starts and I'll send them over as soon as I have them.
As always, if you have any questions, please get in touch. You are just as much a part of the process as I am and so I'm here if you'd like to chat through anything.
Thanks!
Mark Warman
Founder
