The Spitalfields survivors on an upwards curve
When a fire destroyed all of their stock in 2012, Philip Pittack and Martin White could have been forgiven for closing Crescent Trading.
Spitalfields’ last cloth warehouse had been on Quaker Street for a quarter of a century, supplying fabric merchants with quality, English-made woollens.
“Our money was sitting on the shelves,” Pittack explains. “The fire all but wiped us out. Ours was the last proper warehouse and we were determined not to let it disappear.”
Between them, Pittack, 71, and White, 82, have over 100 years of experience in the cloth industry.
“We have to thank the banks for enabling us to get back to where we are now,” says Pittack. “This is a tradition for both of us and we could not let it disappear.”
With a clientele that includes Sir Mick Jagger, Dame Helen Mirren and Vivienne Westwood, the pair are now concentrating on trading less volume than they did before but have rebuilt their warehouse and their business.
“We now focus more on helping the student designers who live in our area,” says Pittack. “We are happy to help them and provide them with cut lengths which no one else will do”.
White insists that the pair will continue trading for as long as they can. “I am the oldest person left in this business,” he says. “There is nothing like us anywhere else in London. We make a small piece of the fashion industry tick.”
“The important thing for us is that our customers leave our warehouse with a smile upon their faces,” adds Pittack. “Without our customers, we would be nothing.”
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