the original site until the early 1900s when Joseph and his son Leslie Frederick Cutler moved to Bligh Street. In 1932 Leslie, who was now managing the company, moved to bigger premises, purchasing a terraced house at 7 Bligh Street close to Sydney’s gentlemen’s clubs and the city’s financial heart, which the family firm occupied for a period of 50 years.
In the early 1930s bespoke tailors, and there were many in Sydney, considered themselves to be the undisputed arbiters of conservative, upper-class taste. Whilst it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the firm began making clothes for society’s elite, during this era leading identities including Australian Governors General, prime ministers and overseas dignitaries, were finding their way on to J. H. Cutler’s customer list. In her book “ My Town- Sydney in the 1930s” Lydia Gill wrote, “In one of these houses was a well-known and excellent tailor patronised by my then boss: I think the name was Cutler. When paying this account for the boss, I was always given a chair while they made out a receipt (whatever happened to all these little ‘thoughtfulnesses’?) The suits being paid for were usually about 25 pounds each- a house could be furnished for about fifty pounds. I was staggered, and really needed that chair so graciously produced.”
In 1939 Leslie’s son Bruce returned from London, where he had been studying the trade, to serve in New Guinea during the war and then to manage the family business at 7 Bligh Street until his retirement in 1976, by which time J. H. Cutler had traded in Bligh Street for over 70 years.
In 1988 J. H. Cutler were one of the few Australian businesses honoured by an invitation from the late Lord Lichfield to be featured in the inaugural edition of Courvoisier’s Book of the Best, a bible for stylish international travellers. We also received further accolades, being included in lists compiled in the United States of the world’s ten best tailors.
The company finally left Bligh Street in March 1993, moving to premises in nearby O’Connell Street, one of Sydney’s most prestigious streets. Here for a period of time we augmented our bespoke offering with a broader range of predominantly international prestige label ready to wear men’s clothing.
A refocussing on our core business of bespoke tailoring and shirt making in late 2004
coincided with J. H. Cutler relocating 50 meters further down O’Connell Street.
In late 2005 John and his team completed a particularly significant commission for a valued client. The overcoat, made from vicuna and produced entirely by hand was considered to be the most expensive overcoat ever produced in Australia. (See www.vicunabespoke.com for full details)
Then in August 2008, the need for more space led to a further move, this time across the street, where today we occupy elegant private rooms on Level 6 at 12 O’Connell Street, a heritage listed art deco style building. Here in a private, discrete and relaxed environment we offer the same exceptional level of service and product quality that has delighted Australian and international clients since the company was first founded in 1884.
We feel honoured that this performance continues to be recognised by media in Australia and overseas, including Forbes, Axel Springer, Qantas Australian Way and Askmen.com, through our inclusion on lists of the world’s best bespoke tailors and shirt makers.
2009 marks the 125th anniversary of the opening of our original business in King Street in 1884 by Joseph Handel Cutler. We take great pride in the fact that throughout that time four generations of the Cutler family have assiduously maintained the exacting standards, the quality, the cut, the style and the fit that has made the Cutler name synonymous with exclusive clothing in Australia and across the world.
John is the fourth generation of his family to take up the tailor’s shears. He joined the family business straight from school at 16 years of age. Even before that date he had shown a keen interest in bespoke tailoring and shirt making. During his holidays from Sydney Grammar, he would visit the shop to learn about tailoring. He even made the occasional waistcoat for members of staff at the school.
At 18 John followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and father before him, and travelled to London, the home of bespoke tailoring. Whilst working at one of the world’s foremost woollen houses Dormeuil Freres, he got to know the tailors in Savile Row. He also attended the renowned Tailor and Cutter Academy in Soho’s Gerrard Street where he studied ‘cutting gentlemen’s tailor made garments’, graduating in 1969. The Academy, which sadly no longer exists, was for many years the cornerstone of British institutional tailoring.
He returned to work with his father Bruce in the family business before taking over the cutting in 1972, and as Managing Director in 1976. To this day John remains as designer, cutter, and Business Principal with more than 40 years experience.
John remarks that, “ I ventured into this rare trade with passion, knowing there would always be a buoyant demand at the top end of the market. There will always be those who insist on the very best.”
More than 40 years on that demand remains as robust as ever, and John continues to maintain the exacting standards and quality that have made J. H. Cutler synonymous with exclusive bespoke clothing.
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