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Setting the sartorial trend

For the past 65 years Bombay Tailoring Company has set the sartorial trend in Kochi

A STITCH IN TIME Dressing up the gentry PHOTO: MAHESH HARILAL

Bombay Tailoring Co. is a familiar landmark in Mattancherry. Located on New Road, it was established by K.J.Antony (Komaroth J.Antony), 65 years ago. Since then it has been the sartorial genius behind many a well dressed gentleman or lady in this area.

Mr. Antony's sons, K.A. Joseph and K.A. Xavier, run this tailoring firm today. According to Mr. Xavier his family has been in Mattancherry for over a hundred years now and that his forefathers were from Kaloor, in Ernakulam. The family now lives in Mundamveli but the tailoring shop continues to function from the same place where it was first set up in a 120-year-old building along this road. The firm undertakes to stitch clothes for both gents and ladies. In fact, Mr. Antony specialised in making blouses for ladies, a reputation which the firm still enjoys.

The late Mr. Antony started off in the business as an apprentice to another tailor before he started out on his own. And why did he call his shop Bombay Tailoring? That was because, as Mr. Xavier explains, customary to name a shop after a city as it reflected the image that the establishment wanted to project. In New Road the North Indian clothing styles were popular and so the name. Mr. Antony was fortunate enough to acquire the services of K.E. Joseph a master cutter of repute who came from Burma and had acquired his Diploma in Tailoring from London. He had settled here during the time of the freedom movement. Mr. Joseph used to run a tailoring institute from his house, and had almost 45 students who learnt the skill from his institute before they started their own shops or joined one. Most of the tailors in Mattancherry, Thoppumpady, Vypeen, and Fort Kochi have been his students.

Bombay Tailoring also had a contract with prominent shipping agencies and firms in Kochi to supply clothes in bulk to those who sailed in the ships run by these agencies when they called at Kochi. They stitched suits for foreigners amongst others. In his father's time the demand in this area was for cotton clothes or those made of satin deck, and they had quite a few customers who get their `jubbas' and `pyjamas' stitched from here. The pyjamas were of cotton and were worn with a satin `jubba'.

Styles are often copied from pattern books, which a customer can go through. They can also suggest new patterns and be sure that Bombay Tailoring would stitch it to perfection. The establishment has at least six tailors on the premises to cater to individual needs.

Mr. Xavier himself has learned tailoring in the traditional manner. Not much has changed in the approach to the customers either. Mr. Xavier, however, wonders if the new generation of the family will retain its interest in tailoring. The trend to acquire readymade garments has affected the tailoring business he feels.

Bombay Tailoring has ventured into wider related fields such as dry-cleaning and stocking cloth material, which the customers can buy from the shop and get it tailored there. Mr. Xavier also believes that people nowadays make much ado about the appearance and atmosphere of a place. So they have now found the need to do some refurbishing of the interiors to keep up with the times. A few modern-looking shelves and show windows have been put up and instead of the removable wooden planks secured with a rod, which functioned as doors in many shops here, shutters have been installed. Except for all this work goes on here as they have been for years.

PRATIMA ASHER

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