Fox Umbrellas
Fox Umbrellas is a British manufacturer of umbrellas . Today, the business founded in 1868 by Thomas Fox manufactures umbrellas in the London district of Croydon . The original store at 118 London Wall, with its 1937 window front, is now a prime example of modern window design in the City of London .
Umbrellas
Fox umbrellas are still handcrafted today. Well-known customers included, for example, the British royal and Japanese imperial families, Winston Churchill and John F. Kennedy . Fictional bearers were John Steed from the British television series Mit Schirm, Charme und Melone or Mycroft Holmes in the British television series Sherlock . Today the company produces around 15,000 umbrellas a year and produces special editions for fashion companies such as Alfred Dunhill or Ralph Lauren in Great Britain or Mitsukoshi , Isetan , Sogo and Tomorrowland in Japan.
London Wall store
The store at 118 London Wall is the origin of the manufacturer and continues to sell umbrellas. While the interior is contemporary with Canadian walnut shelves, the facade dates back to 1937. The facade made by Pollard, made of black Vitrolite glass, stainless steel and neon lettering , is outstanding , according to Pevsner .
Since 1990 the business has been a Grade II Listed Building . Time Out magazine called it London's strangest and most wonderful place .
history
Thomas Fox lost his shop to the Dixon family after a few years due to unexplained circumstances. After the company also manufactured nylon parachutes during World War II , it was quickly convinced of the advantages of the material. As the first umbrella manufacturer, it presented umbrellas with nylon instead of silk covers at the Britain Can Make It exhibition in 1947 .
Thomas Fox originally owned a hairdressing salon and a tailor shop in addition to the umbrella business, and numerous customers took the opportunity to have their hair cut while they waited for an umbrella to be repaired or for the tailor to work. Until 1985 the umbrellas were handcrafted in the basement of the shop in the City of London, in 1985 production moved to Sutton and in 2006 to Croydon.
In June 2000, the manufacturer and the store separated when the manager Ray Garrett bought the umbrella production from the Dixon family. While he expanded these in Sutton and Croydon and relied heavily on the Internet business, the shop changed hands several times and also offered other accessories and bespoke suits at times. Fox Umbrellas has had its own subsidiary in Japan with its own shop since 2003.
Web links
- Fox Umbrellas website
- Once was England: Fox's Umbrellas
- Quintin Lake: Photos from the store
Remarks
- ↑ Wear Sherlock BBC Wear Sherlock ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Simon Bradley, Nikolaus Pevsner : London 1, The city of London, 1997, London: Penguin. ISBN 0140710922 , p. 565
- ^ British Listed Buildings: Fox's Umbrellas
- ↑ 'MOST WEIRD AND WONDERFUL' TAILOR'S ( Memento of the original from January 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Savile Row Style Magazine
