Moss Bros

"When Douglas Jerrold remarked that if an earthquake were to engulf England 'the English would manage to meet and dine somewhere among the rubbish, just to celebrate the event', he might well have added that as they dusted down their evening clothes they would mutter 'Good old Moss Bros.'"

- Warren Tute

“As peculiarly British as afternoon tea, the Boat Race, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, the Lord Mayor's procession, Derby Day, and Hampstead Heath: a meeting-place for Commonwealth and colonial visitors; an essential feature of the Royal Occasion, the masonic dinner, the Annual Dance, and the wedding day; a household name, as revered and loved as Nelson or Mr. Pickwick, as Harry Lauder or Mrs. Beeton; a store so various that a junior clerk can buy a collar stud, a young couple can hire their wedding clothes, a white hunter can equip his safari team, or a peer of the realm can order his robes and regalia for a coronation—and all will be treated with that same friendly, careful attention that is part of the mystique of the one and only Moss Bros.”

- Warren Tute

Moss Bros Advertising Booklets

The Brooks Brothers of England has been outfitting the British correctly for more than 100 years.

In the early 1930s they revolutionized advertising by creating the first of more than two dozen booklets, which they sent to their client lists.

The results were magnificent and immediate.

When the first booklet All at Sea was sent out,

"The results were surprising. The circular was evidently taken by its recipients as a personal communication.

A large number of customers did not reply by post, they called in and explained why they had not come back. They were sorry, they said, that they had been forgetful or lazy or simply had not needed anything in the clothing line-but now that they were there in the shop again—well, that was another matter.

Before the circular had gone out the average number of old customers who had come in during a month was around sixty. Within eighteen months the figure had risen to over a thousand."

Here are some of my favorites from my personal collection. There are many more than these and I have yet to hear of anyone with a complete set. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Books on Moss Bros

The Grey Top Hat: The Story of Moss Bros of Convent Garden by Warren Tute, illustrated by Giles