It seems the good people at Norton & Sons are not content with simply running one of the most respected labels in the world. Patrick Grant, the man who resurrected Norton & Sons, emailed this weekend to inform me of the imminent relaunch of the storied E. Tautz house as a ready-to-wear collection. The as yet to be seen collection (by me anyway, buyers and press got the first look this past week in Paris) of men’s clothing and accessories will launch in better stores this coming fall. The range will also be on preview for press and buyers during New York fashion week, so I hope to do a follow-up post once images of the collection are released. It is also worth pointing out that Mr. Grant and co. went to great lengths to produce the line domestically in Britain. As you know, local manufacturing is something we love here at ACL. A brief history of E. Tautz after the jump. The official Tautz site, which is worth a look, can be seen here.

From Wikipedia:

“Edward Tautz founded E. Tautz in 1867 at 249 Oxford Street between Audley Street and Marble Arch in London’s prosperous West End. Tautz had been head cutter at the venerable sporting Tailors Hammond & Co before leaving to establish his own firm. At Hammond he had been tailor to England’s finest sporting gentlemen, including Edward VII, as Prince of Wales and he took many of his noble clients with him to E. Tautz.

Edward Tautz was an innovator in both cloth and cut, continuously releasing new products in new and innovative materials including waterproof tweeds and rainproof coverts. He fought hard to protect his business from counterfeiters, even going to the extent of using the courts. In 1886 he proved, in court, his invention of the original Knickerbocker Breeches, that were to prove so popular and were the forerunner to today’s plus 2’s.

On February 16 1895, a young Winston Churchill placed his first order at Tautz, an order which included 1 pr blue medium Tautz Overall’s, 1 pr dress pants with gold lace and one pr Venetian dress overalls with gold lace. Churchill was to be a regular client for the next twenty years. He was a great fan of the firm and indeed as a schoolboy at Harrow once wrote to his mother imploring her to send him amongst other things ‘Breeches from Tautz’.

The firm made its name as a sporting and military tailor but in the 20th century expanded its civilian tailoring business and famously developed the Tautz Lapel, a double breasted lapel with a subtle rounded tip and lower almost horizontal gorge. This distinctive cut was taken up by the stars of Hollywood in a big way and the likes of David Niven and Cary Grant both ‘Sported the Tautz’.”