Company History
Ede and Ravenscroft's heritage stretches back over 300 years to 1689 when, as a family firm of tailors, it was entrusted with the ultimate commission: to create the robes for the coronation of William and Mary.
At that time, the area of London now known as Aldwych was the bustling centre of the tailoring trade, packed with tailors, cloth merchants, robemakers, furriers, embroiderers and haberdashers, all vying for trade.
It was in these busy streets that a respected tailoring family, the Shudalls, started a business that was later to become Ede and Ravenscroft. Painstaking attention to detail and unrivalled craftsmanship ensured the company stood out from their competitors. And their sense for the styles of the time made them firm favourites with royalty and helped them secure a commission to create a large number of ceremonial robes for the coronation of His Majesty King George III. But even the Shudalls couldn't have predicted how the link with royalty would flourish over the years. And it is testament to the quality and skill of Ede and Ravenscroft that they have produced ceremonial robes for every coronation since 1689.
Ede and Ravenscroft was soon providing tailoring and robes to the church, state, legal profession and academia as well as to individual customers. But it was following the marriage of Joseph Ede to a member of the successful Ravenscroft wig making family at the end of the 19th century, that this famous firm added wig making to its range of services.
Today, it continues to produce the wigs and ceremonial garments that have been the backbone of the company for centuries. And although Ede and Ravenscroft is thought to be the oldest firm of tailors in the world, it is every bit as contemporary now as when it was first formed. The quality that made them the tailors and robemakers of choice for 12 coronations is still evident in the clothes it creates today. This is best illustrated in its range of men's tailoring that is modern yet classic, contemporary yet timelessly stylish and somehow stands for the qualities that have defined Ede and Ravenscroft over the years.
