I might maintain that I’m good at multi-tasking (to my husband at least); but I have nothing on Robin Johnson.
Perched on top of his tailor’s bench, cow-hide clogged feet crossed for comfort, he expertly stitches a sleeve lining into a Harris tweed jacket on his knee while Irish Country Living fires questions at him.
But I guess when your family have been in the tailoring business in Tullow, Co Carlow, since 1867, it just comes naturally.
Though?
“We’re blow-ins,” quips Robin’s father Michael, who explains how his great-grandfather came from Co Wexford to set up the business on Mill St originally, before moving to Bridge St in 1900, where they remain one of the few traditional tailors in Ireland.
Now 73-years-young, sharp in his three-piece suit (“I heard you were coming!”) and still going – and sewing – strong, Michael himself joined his own father in the business at 16, but also studied tailoring and cutting in London, where he earned first class honours in his studies.
“I had all the theory; but I did not have the practical,” he reflects of the “apprenticeship” that he maintains continues to this day.
“You’re learning every day. You’re always finding something different that you can do,” he explains.
“I was asked to do a lecture and there was an artist there as well and he said to me, ‘You know, we’re at the same thing... you’re putting a portrait on a body, whereas I’m painting one’.”
Made to last
The tallest customer that Michael ever made a suit for was 6’10”, the largest was 68 inches on the chest, while the oldest was a Mr Burgess; who was actually dressed by four generations of the Johnson family.
“He got his last suit made when he was 103 and he never said, ‘This will be the last suit you’ll make me’,” recalls Michael. “Just a wonderful person.”
Long before the era of fast fashion, most of their customers were farmers and labourers, who would come to town on a Saturday to be measured for either a navy or dark three-piece suit.
“Our official closing time on a Saturday was 10am, but we never got out until 11am,” says Michael. “You didn’t see them for maybe seven or eight years until their next suit again.”
Of course, times have changed since then; but not the way that they work.
“The only changes with regards equipment are our irons now are steam irons,” he explains.
“Before we had big heavy 22-pound electric irons that would pull the arms out of you and would burn stuff as easily... but now we can’t even burn anything!”
While Michael had joined the business at 16, Robin originally wanted to become an electronic engineer; but after the first year of college, realised that it just wasn’t for him and opted instead for the family trade.
Like his father, he also went away to train, completing a pattern cutting course with FÁS in Dublin and going to the UK to work with two different tailors, before returning to Tullow.
“And the rest, as they say, is history,” he smiles; but even after years of experience, he still maintains that “there’s a lot to be said for the old statement ‘measure twice, cut once’”.
Working together, Michael and Robin could probably make two suits from scratch together in one week; though there is generally a four- to six-week turnaround from the time of order.
Most of the fabric used is wool-based and sourced in Yorkshire; though a range of linings offer a splash of colour and detail, whether you fancy a fox and hound print or a polka dot.
Given their base in a small town, however, alterations are also part of the business.
“If a machine will do it, I’ll do it,” says Robin.
Dressing the president
Customers travel from as far as Cork and Belfast for their service, many from the business world, but also wedding parties or those involved in the hunting scene.
As for costs, Robin says that the “conservative figure” for a suit would be around €900 depending on the materials involved, but the beauty of getting a handmade suit is that it is made to last.
“This is going to last this guy 20 years,” says Robin, holding up the jacket he is working on. “Whereas you can go into Carlow, you can go into any shop and you can pay a couple of hundred euros for a jacket and you’re happy to get one season out of it because fashion is going to change, but the likes of this, fashion is not going to change it.”
One of their most high-profile customers to date has been President Michael D Higgins, who came to Johnson Tailor for two suits and an overcoat for his historic visit to Britain in 2014 to meet Queen Elizabeth II.
“It was an honour to work for the President and he was a gentleman,” says Robin; though it’s clear that he and his father value each customer who comes their way.
“We’re just country tailors,” smiles Michael. “You don’t know who is going to walk in the door.”
For further information, call 059-915 1131 or visit www.johnsontailor.com
I might maintain that I’m good at multi-tasking (to my husband at least); but I have nothing on Robin Johnson.
Perched on top of his tailor’s bench, cow-hide clogged feet crossed for comfort, he expertly stitches a sleeve lining into a Harris tweed jacket on his knee while Irish Country Living fires questions at him.
But I guess when your family have been in the tailoring business in Tullow, Co Carlow, since 1867, it just comes naturally.
Though?
“We’re blow-ins,” quips Robin’s father Michael, who explains how his great-grandfather came from Co Wexford to set up the business on Mill St originally, before moving to Bridge St in 1900, where they remain one of the few traditional tailors in Ireland.
Now 73-years-young, sharp in his three-piece suit (“I heard you were coming!”) and still going – and sewing – strong, Michael himself joined his own father in the business at 16, but also studied tailoring and cutting in London, where he earned first class honours in his studies.
“I had all the theory; but I did not have the practical,” he reflects of the “apprenticeship” that he maintains continues to this day.
“You’re learning every day. You’re always finding something different that you can do,” he explains.
“I was asked to do a lecture and there was an artist there as well and he said to me, ‘You know, we’re at the same thing... you’re putting a portrait on a body, whereas I’m painting one’.”
Made to last
The tallest customer that Michael ever made a suit for was 6’10”, the largest was 68 inches on the chest, while the oldest was a Mr Burgess; who was actually dressed by four generations of the Johnson family.
“He got his last suit made when he was 103 and he never said, ‘This will be the last suit you’ll make me’,” recalls Michael. “Just a wonderful person.”
Long before the era of fast fashion, most of their customers were farmers and labourers, who would come to town on a Saturday to be measured for either a navy or dark three-piece suit.
“Our official closing time on a Saturday was 10am, but we never got out until 11am,” says Michael. “You didn’t see them for maybe seven or eight years until their next suit again.”
Of course, times have changed since then; but not the way that they work.
“The only changes with regards equipment are our irons now are steam irons,” he explains.
“Before we had big heavy 22-pound electric irons that would pull the arms out of you and would burn stuff as easily... but now we can’t even burn anything!”
While Michael had joined the business at 16, Robin originally wanted to become an electronic engineer; but after the first year of college, realised that it just wasn’t for him and opted instead for the family trade.
Like his father, he also went away to train, completing a pattern cutting course with FÁS in Dublin and going to the UK to work with two different tailors, before returning to Tullow.
“And the rest, as they say, is history,” he smiles; but even after years of experience, he still maintains that “there’s a lot to be said for the old statement ‘measure twice, cut once’”.
Working together, Michael and Robin could probably make two suits from scratch together in one week; though there is generally a four- to six-week turnaround from the time of order.
Most of the fabric used is wool-based and sourced in Yorkshire; though a range of linings offer a splash of colour and detail, whether you fancy a fox and hound print or a polka dot.
Given their base in a small town, however, alterations are also part of the business.
“If a machine will do it, I’ll do it,” says Robin.
Dressing the president
Customers travel from as far as Cork and Belfast for their service, many from the business world, but also wedding parties or those involved in the hunting scene.
As for costs, Robin says that the “conservative figure” for a suit would be around €900 depending on the materials involved, but the beauty of getting a handmade suit is that it is made to last.
“This is going to last this guy 20 years,” says Robin, holding up the jacket he is working on. “Whereas you can go into Carlow, you can go into any shop and you can pay a couple of hundred euros for a jacket and you’re happy to get one season out of it because fashion is going to change, but the likes of this, fashion is not going to change it.”
One of their most high-profile customers to date has been President Michael D Higgins, who came to Johnson Tailor for two suits and an overcoat for his historic visit to Britain in 2014 to meet Queen Elizabeth II.
“It was an honour to work for the President and he was a gentleman,” says Robin; though it’s clear that he and his father value each customer who comes their way.
“We’re just country tailors,” smiles Michael. “You don’t know who is going to walk in the door.”
For further information, call 059-915 1131 or visit www.johnsontailor.com
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