Case Study Bespoke Tailoring Pre-Apprenticeship with Savile Row

Client: Robin McGrorty

Robin McGrorty worked in menswear design – until he was made redundant. "When I was designing I always thought that you were handing your design on for someone else to make and you miss the most interesting part of the process. So when someone told me about Newham College's bespoke tailoring pre-Apprenticeship course I hotfooted it down here."

He completed the first part of the pre-Apprenticeship in six months. "Its brilliant because it has such close links with Savile Row. You spend 3 days a week in college and one day a week with various Savile Row tailors. It's a great eye-opener. Everyone has their different tricks of the trade – and of course its all bespoke and hand-made – the complete opposite of mass produced clothing."

While Robin was doing the second part of the Apprenticeship, a particularly exciting opportunity came his way. "The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, have a huge and impressive costume department. They were interested in setting up an Apprenticeship scheme, so they contacted Newham College and I was one of the people invited to apply."

"They interviewed six people and we spent the whole day there. I had to put together a corset and start making a waistcoat – and then I had an hour-long interview."

Robin is the first student apprentice to be taken on by the Royal Opera House. He spends three days a week in-house that will later increase to five days.

"It's a really great place to work and there's such a variety of tasks. You learn to repair and re-make costumes and you're involved in the construction of new costumes. There are different departments – women's, men's, children's, and even animal costumes. Some of them are modern but mostly you get to work with beautiful costumes made from old, exquisite fabrics. Newham College has helped me find my dream job."