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| Dege & Skinner | |
|---|---|
| Name | Dege & Skinner |
| Type | Private |
| Industry | Bespoke tailoring |
| Founded | 1865 |
| Founder | John Dege; Charles Skinner |
| Headquarters | Savile Row, London |
| Products | Bespoke tailoring, military uniforms, ceremonial robes |
Dege & Skinner is a bespoke Savile Row tailoring house established in the 19th century, known for ceremonial uniforms, judicial robes, and bespoke menswear. The firm has provided services to royalty, politicians, military officers, and cultural institutions across the United Kingdom and internationally. Its work intersects with British institutional life including the Crown, Parliament, and armed services.
Founded in the Victorian era, the firm emerged amid the tailoring milieu of Savile Row, contemporary with houses such as Henry Poole & Co and Gieves & Hawkes. Through the late 19th and early 20th centuries the company tailored for figures associated with Queen Victoria, Edward VII, and later George V and George VI. During the First World War and Second World War the tailor served officers connected to the British Army, Royal Navy, and Royal Air Force, working alongside suppliers engaged with the War Office and Admiralty. In the postwar period clients included statesmen linked to Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee, and Harold Macmillan, while ceremonial commissions connected the firm with institutions such as the House of Lords, the Royal Household, and the College of Arms.
The house specializes in bespoke tailoring, formal court dress, military full dress, and judicial robes, maintaining techniques comparable to those used at Cifonelli and Anderson & Sheppard. The workshop practices hand-cutting, hand-sewing, canvas structure, and bespoke fitting similar to traditions upheld by Scabal-supplied coatmakers and Huddersfield-era cloth merchants. Crafts include pattern drafting for clients from the Parliamentary estates, tailoring ceremonial cloaks for peers of the United Kingdom peerage, and producing uniforms for regiments associated with Household Division units like the Grenadier Guards and Coldstream Guards.
Commissions span monarchs such as Elizabeth II and members of the British Royal Family, prime ministers like Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher-era ministers, military leaders tied to the British Expeditionary Force and NATO delegations, and diplomats from embassies in London. Cultural figures and performers linked to the firm include actors who performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company or appeared in productions at the National Theatre, while sporting patrons have associations with The Championships, Wimbledon and the Henley Royal Regatta. The firm has outfitted peers attending the State Opening of Parliament, judges of the High Court of Justice, and civic leaders from City of London livery companies.
The tailoring house has been granted royal and official patronage associated with the Royal Warrant tradition, serving personalities in the orbit of Buckingham Palace and the St James's Palace household. Honors for bespoke service echo the patronage patterns of other warrant-holders such as John Lobb and Fortnum & Mason, reflecting long-term supply relationships with members of the British Royal Family and state ceremonial offices like the Lord Chamberlain's department.
Located on or near Savile Row in Mayfair, the premises combine front-of-house fitting rooms and back-of-house workrooms similar to the operational layouts of Huntsman and Henry Poole & Co. Workshops have historically sourced cloth from mills in Huddersfield and Saxon wool suppliers, and employed cutters trained in apprenticeship traditions akin to techniques preserved at institutions such as the Royal School of Needlework in collaborative contexts with costume departments at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Operated as a private company, ownership has passed through partners and families linked to the tailoring trade, paralleling succession patterns seen at Gieves & Hawkes and Anderson & Sheppard. Management structures have balanced bespoke cutters, cloth specialists, and commercial directors coordinating orders for clients including embassies, military procurement offices, and peers of the United Kingdom peerage.
Garments from the house have appeared in contexts involving productions connected to the BBC, film projects with companies like Ealing Studios and Pinewood Studios, and television dramas set in institutions such as 10 Downing Street and Whitehall. The firm’s ceremonial pieces feature in televised events including Trooping the Colour and state visits to Buckingham Palace, and have been noted by fashion historians writing on Savile Row's influence on menswear, including commentators referencing the roles of bespoke tailoring houses in popular culture.
Category:British tailoring companies Category:Savile Row