It seems like only yesterday that affordable tweed MTM vendor
Bookster was bankrupt or closing shop or whatever.
They're back.
I might be interested in a tattersall vest, but that's about it.
People of Andyland are of mixed mind about whether to welcome back the prodigal son or to run from people that kept several people's money without ever delivering product (aka pulling a Gianni Cerutti).
I thought it might be helpful to make a contribution here. J Libourel kindly summed up Old Booksters ethics nicely in his contribution and that is intact.. A very small percentage of people did lose out unfortunately, it was not a scam and the owners of 'New Bookster' know the full and official details concerning the closure of the original business. The fact that they have retained the original name and employed myself and Michele should be considered in that context. They are not stupid or dishonorable people. They were the only people of those who talked to us about starting again who provided us with any opportunity to offer some kind of recompense to the few.
Most we have been in contact with
personally were
a) Delighted we were genuinely back and
b) Pleased with the opportunity. Here is a response from one of them ( genuine)
'
Dear Mr. King,
My tweed jacket has arrived, and I just wanted to report back to you that everything is superb. The fit is right, the cloth is beautiful, the workmanship is exquisite.
When I order again, may I simply indicate that you have my jacket measurements on file? '
To address other points made here in regard to pricing.
Yes we are more expensive now, but as always we want to be as accessible as possible to anybody interested in our garments.
when we closed our least cost tweed jacket in a beautiful high quality British cloth was around £350, today it is £440.
But aside from price and general cost increases (cloth alone has increased on average by 20%) the most important difference is that our quality has risen significantly too, our consistency is much higher, our delivery times very reliable and our service continues to be extremely personal.
We and the new owners have gone to great lengths to ensure that none of the problems we suffered in the past will be repeated.
As well as the above we can now offer options that eluded us before, and details with our earlier garments we were not happy with and unable to remedy have been resolved. The path is now clear for myself and Michele to focus on what we do best, from firm foundations, with absolutely no dependency on a Bank to realise the potential Bookster always had.
We were never a booking agency for disparate tailors, we were the 'owners' of every piece, and that is still the case.
The range we have planned is inspiring to say the least and the number of 'old' customers that have returned and remained loyal to us is very gratifying indeed.In fact were that not the case we would have been less inclined to start again. Most of them do not participate in any forums.
To conclude:
We are still expert at remote fittings and advice
Entry level pricing is Made to Order with a wide range of cloth price options and more cloths including limited offers included, all cloths are available in whatever pricing category.
Custom Made to Measure is the next tier for those that prefer/need a more detailed fitting choice
Full hand crafted Bespoke is now available as well
Face to Face fittings are available in the UK in London or Leeds, in Canada Montreal and in the USA we visit New York, Washington and Chicago 3 times per year where you can also preview our Bespoke shirts not yet available on our site.
We still sell cloth by the metre, it was never surplus stock , you can choose any we feature and more
Please judge 'New Bookster' by the quality of our garments and service, not by the loss of 'Old Bookster' at the height of the crash, and if anybody reading this lost out, please contact me
Peter King
