The Great British Sewing Bee star Patrick Grant's surprising career before fashion
Patrick Grant has been keeping viewers entertained in the brand-new series of The Great British Sewing Bee on BBC One for the last few weeks.
The fashion designer, who is a judge on the show alongside fellow fashion guru Esme Young, has enjoyed an impressive career in the industry. But did you know that fashion wasn't his first career choice?
While Patrick is now the director of bespoke tailors such as Norton & Sons of Savile Row and E. Tautz & Sons, he initially set out for a career in engineering.
The businessman studied engineering at Leeds University and, after returning to the UK following a stint in America as a ski instructor and counsellor at a summer camp, went on to work in marketing.
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He later studied for an MBA at the internationally renowned Saïd Business School at Oxford University, which is where he found his passion. While studying, he picked up a copy of the Financial Times, in which bespoke tailor Norton & Sons was being advertised for sale by the Granger family.
"I had no idea what it might entail or cost, but just knew I wanted to find out more," he told GQ in 2015.
Upon graduating from Oxford, Patrick bought the business, which consisted of only him, one tailor and one part-time cutter at the time.
Through his purchase of Norton & Sons, he also obtained the rights to two further businesses, E Tautz and Hammond & Co., and went on to relaunch E Tautz in 2009 as a ready-to-wear brand. He was named Menswear Designer of 2010 at the British Fashion Awards in recognition of his work.
Patrick is also the director of Community Clothing, which is made at textile manufacturer Cookson & Clegg in Blackburn, and used the business to make PPE for the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic.
Most recently, the Scottish star presented BBC Two's Coronation Tailors: Fit for a King, a documentary that went behind the scenes at Tottenham-based family-run business, Kashket & Partners, which made 6,000 uniforms for military personnel for the coronation.
Opening up about working with King Charles, Patrick told PA news agency: "I work a little bit for His Majesty, and I’ve met him on many occasions – he is a lover of beautiful things, he is a lover of clothes, he’s a lover of craftsmanship."
It's clear that Patrick developed an appreciation for fashion at a young age, telling The Guardian: "I've always been really interested in clothes. I don't remember ever not being completely aware of what I was wearing and wanting to be correctly put together."
As for the secret to his success, he said: "I'm an optimist.I don't think you can start your own business if you're not. You have to assume everything is going to go well. I'm a positive person. I don't ever really feel anxious."
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