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Suits for every body: Meet the Carlisle stylist adding a secret sauce to tailoring

by Lucy Edwards
01/07/2025
in News
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Owner and personal stylist James Hutchison outside Tasker & Shaw’s new studio

A Carlisle stylist is adding a secret sauce to his tailoring business in the city.

Tasker & Shaw, based on Spencer Street and owned by personal stylist James Hutchison, 49, of Carlisle, has been offering fine tailoring and made to order leather shoes and menswear since he first opened the doors in 2021.

He now works with clients from across the world, has a studio in London and offers suits for both men and women in every shape and size, covering everything from wedding or special occasion suits to business suits for leaders, lawyers, MPs, teachers.

But it all started around the Covid-19 pandemic, after James’ experience with significant weight loss became a catalyst for him setting up Tasker & Shaw.

He said: “I’ve always loved colour and pattern. I initially trained and I’m qualified as a graphic designer, and I did that for around 25 years.

“But just before the pandemic in 2018 I lost a lot of weight, around 11 stone in total down from 26 stone, and I suddenly realised I’d gone from not really caring about what I wore, to actually starting to care again.

“There wasn’t really any good advice or help out there for a guy in his 40s who kind of just didn’t know where to begin.

“So with the support of my amazing wife, I decided I was going to open a menswear brand, which is what we did initially, and it then very quickly developed into the tailoring side of made to measure clothing and the handmade leather shoes we do as well.

“It now all ties around that tailoring and helping men and women feel their absolute best selves.”

Owner and Personal stylist James Hutchison inside Tasker & Shaw’s new studio

James said he often gets asked about the inspiration behind the name of his business – to which he said was inspired by the two smartest men he’s ever known.

He said: “When we were going through name ideas, two jumped out. The first one was Mr Tasker, who was one of my school teachers and was incredibly dapper.

“It didn’t matter what time of year it was or how hot it was, he always had on an impeccable three piece suit and a beautifully knotted tie and a pair of highly polished brogues.

“He was the first person out of my family I knew that was incredibly dapper and it really stayed with me and had an effect on me.

“The second was my paternal grandfather, papa Shaw. He was an engineer, so he worked in an industry where he should have been in jeans and a boiler suit with dirty fingernails.

“But he was the smartest man I’ve ever met in my life. He always wore a suit and tie and a fedora and always had clean fingernails. So I thought of two people who were the epitome of dapper and smart.

“When I put them together it just sounded right, so I went with it. But it’s also really nice that the name of the business has an emotional connection to me.”

Before he opened Tasker & Shaw, James trained professionally as a personal stylist and colour practitioner, where he further developed his love for made to measure suits and dapper style.

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A post shared by Tasker and Shaw Menswear (@taskerandshaw)

He said: “My training is as a male personal stylist, so I come at the whole tailoring process from another perspective.

“Normally when you go to a tailor, it’s all about the suit and you’re the wearer of the suit. Everything is about the garment and the person is the coat hanger who happens to be wearing the garment some of the time.

“From my perspective, it’s all about the person wearing it and how they’re going to look and feel in their suit.

“It’s about finding the right cloth in the right cut and the right suit for the right time, it’s asking how do you want to feel and how can we get you to feel like that.

“What I bring to the process is the secret sauce that turns it from a suit you put on, to your suit.”

James works with commercial tailors who have decades of Savile Row experience – one of the world’s top tailoring schools – and uses English and European cloth for his suits.

A typical suit consultation can last up to three hours and made to measure suits take around five weeks to be sent off and professionally made by James’ tailors.

James said: “It all starts with a coffee and a chat. The first question a tailor will ask is ‘what suit do you want’ the first I ask is ‘what is it for’.

“From there we work out what suit they want, look at cloth and find out what will best suit their body shape, colouring and personality.

“Instead of finding a suit you fit into, it’s making a suit to fit you, not just physically, but also emotionally, and from a personality perspective too.

“But there’s no sales pitch and no requirement or pressure to buy, the whole point is to come in, have a chat, look at some cloth, and if it’s not for you, that’s okay, it helped you make your decision.

“I don’t feel the need to pressure people, I don’t want them to come away and think I couldn’t afford that, I want them to look at their suit and think ‘I’m so happy’ and I think we get a lot of return custom for that reason.”

James said that he is also passionate about making sure both men and women are aware that suits are for every body – and that no body is the wrong shape or size.

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A post shared by Tasker and Shaw Menswear (@taskerandshaw)

He said: “We do wedding shows and at almost every single one we do, you get a stream of men who say they’re a strange or terrible shape.

“They’re not, but reason for that is because everything the industry makes at the moment is thin, super narrow and a really short Italian cut, which suits some, but not all particularly if you are bigger, broader or taller.

“Most people who come to me have already tried off the peg suits on the high street and it can be a demoralising experience. While those products do have a real value for some, they don’t work for a lot of people.

“I had a client quite recently who is a bodybuilder, he’s a big guy and he’s obviously spent thousands of hours in the gym building this incredible physique and the first words he said were ‘I know my body is a nightmare.’

“So you go and spend all this time getting an incredible physique and then someone in a shop somewhere tells you your body is a nightmare. I said to him listen, you’re not a nightmare, lets find you a cool suit.

“Nobody is the wrong shape or size, you just haven’t found the right cut of suit yet.”

He added that finding the perfect suit can also be an emotional process for some clients.

James said: “It can get really emotional, I’ve had big burly men cry and we also get quite a lot of brides to be crying too.

“But you get to see the person you love looking their absolute best, so it’s to a point where there’s never a tissue box more than five paces away.

“It’s happy tears though, it’s all positive!”

James’ passion for fine tailoring also led him to create The Tailor’s Lexicon: An A–Z Guide to Sartorial Terms – a pictorial guide he created to support clients and those starting out in the industry in understanding the jargon associated with tailoring.

He also believes in style over fashion and said the brand is committed to sustainable, slow fashion and buying less and better.

James also offers a measuring service called True Fit, where he offers professional suit measuring for free, a service he said he feels is important to offer to help people – both clients and not – find their perfect suit.

His menswear has also featured three times in GQ magazine lookbooks over the years.

After initially setting up shop next to the city’s former Debenhams, James has now relocated to Spencer Street, where he offers one-to-one consultation and fitting appointments.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tasker and Shaw Menswear (@taskerandshaw)

James’ decision to move came from a desire to have more time to support his wife and offer a more exclusive townhouse tailor experience for customers.

The brand also offers accessories including handmade to order leather shoes and menswear on its website and in its showroom space.

He said: “Moving off the high street to a space that suited the tailoring side more felt like the right thing to do.

“There’s a tradition of what are called townhouse tailors. So in the late 1800s, tailoring was a profession and skill and tailors tended to have nice houses.

“So they would often make the ground floor of their home their tailoring shop. When we found Spencer Street, it was a clear that we could make it feel like a homely and welcoming townhouse tailor space.

“It needed a lot of love, but it’s now a comfortable, safe and happy place that people can come in and enjoy the experience and we’re still in the city centre, so we’re still part of that community and support network.

“Because we open by appointment only, every client that comes in gets our undivided attention. There’s no oh hang on I’ve got to get the phone or ring up this for this person, everyone who comes in, it’s there time.”

James, who is originally from Glasgow, moved to Carlisle in 2018, and said he adores being part of the city and its community of small businesses.

He said: “I have never felt more at home anywhere in my life than I do in Carlisle. The people are lovely, it’s a beautiful city, it has all you need, but it feels like a small town, it’s close to the motorway so you’re connected, I could do a TED Talk on how awesome it is.

“I absolutely love it and it’s why I’m chuffed to be a brand that is part of that community, it’s nice to be able to give something back to the city.”

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