Item 2018.217 - Austin Reed the Cue Shop Double Breasted Corduroy Coat

Reed & Sons 1900–6 Austin Reed 1906–2020
Tailor Austin Leonard Reed (1873–1954) opened his first shop at 167 Fenchurch Street, London on 7 July 1900, trading as Reed & Sons, and financed by his father William Bilkey Reed. The business moved to 13 Fenchurch Street in 1906 with the company trading under the Austin Reed name from then onwards. In February 1911 Austin Reed opened a flagship store at 113 Regent Street. Predominantly a shirt house and men’s outfitter, also selling hosiery, hats and raincoats, they expanded in 1920 to include off-the-peg suits and formalwear. In 1929 Austin Reed opened a shop on the Cunard transatlantic liner RMS Aquitania; this was followed by shops on the RMS Queen Mary (1934) and RMS Queen Elizabeth (1946). During the Second World War, the company manufactured uniforms for the armed forces and produced a siren suit for the prime minister, Winston Churchill.
In 1965, in a significant development, the company opened The Cue Shop, or Cue at Austin Reed, within its Regent Street flagship store in order to appeal to a younger male demographic seeking a more trend-driven wardrobe. Helmut Newton was employed to photograph four advertising campaigns in 1965, and guest designers were commissioned to create capsule menswear collections for the shop, including John Weitz, and later Tommy Nutter, Bill Gibb and, in 1984, Paul Smith (see p. 305). In 1966 Barry Reed, the grandson of Austin Reed, was appointed managing director, having overseen the successful launch of The Cue Shop. The success of Cue led to other traditional menswear shops creating their own in-house boutiques, including Simpson with Trend, Way In at Harrods, Aquascutum’s Club 92, the Army and Navy stores with On Target, and One Up at Moss Bros. After twenty years, Austin Reed shut The Cue Shop in 1985. In 2011 the company moved from their original Regent Street store to the former Aquascutum flagship store on the opposite side. In 2015 Austin Reed closed thirty-one of its stores, and in April 2016, the company entered administration. The following month, the Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group acquired the name. In November 2020, the Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group went into administration and Austin Reed closed.
Sources: Berry Ritchie, A Touch of Class: The Story of Austin Reed (London: James & James, 1990); Financial Times; The Guardian; The Times.