# Dunn & Co.??



## florentinepogen (Sep 7, 2007)

What ever happened to Dunn & Co. tailors?


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## turban1 (May 29, 2008)

*dead, jim*

long gone, i fear. alas, there are very few places in which to buy fuddy-duddy clothing nowadays. i miss them.


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## StephenRG (Apr 7, 2005)

Some of you might remember this line: "boss, we've drawn Arsenal away!"


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## miurasv (Jan 11, 2010)

They were taken over by Ciro Citterio in 1997. I don't know why really as what they sold was completely different and for the younger cheaper market and none of it was to my liking. 

Shame about Dunn & Co. They had some great coats, of which I bought a few and loved them. I think somebody should revive the name as it was a good one imo and sell quality, traditional English clothes.


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## vwdolly (Sep 26, 2009)

Dunn & Co were highly under rated sadly. Although the quality of garments are of far higher quality than many comparible makes. Vintage Dunn & Co items are near always in amazing condition for age, they were made to last unlike many modern makes :icon_smile:


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## florentinepogen (Sep 7, 2007)

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https://askandyaboutclothes.com/community/showthread.php?t=50076&referrerid=0
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Thanks to all...I ran upon the above thread that has some interesting Dunn history. I just purchased a solidy navy wool tie from the maker and was interested.


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## Kingstonian (Dec 23, 2007)

In all the rose-tinted nostalgia, people forget that Dunn had a very clear image as a shop for pensioners.

Their garments were seen as grandad stuff back in the day. Their customer base was dying off and not being replaced.


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## StephenRG (Apr 7, 2005)

Kingstonian said:


> In all the rose-tinted nostalgia, people forget that Dunn had a very clear image as a shop for pensioners.
> 
> Their garments were seen as grandad stuff back in the day. Their customer base was dying off and not being replaced.


They once ran an advert (commercial) showing an elegant blonde woman entering the shop and buying one of their tweed jackets.


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## Semper Bauhaus (Jan 12, 2010)

Kingstonian said:


> In all the rose-tinted nostalgia, people forget that Dunn had a very clear image as a shop for pensioners.
> 
> Their garments were seen as grandad stuff back in the day. Their customer base was dying off and not being replaced.


My brother worked in their Picadilly outlet (many years ago now) and from the times I popped in to see him can clearly remember any customers they had were older generation. My step father has a coat from Dunn's that must be twenty years old; I saw it quite recently and it was still in excellent condition. Unfortunately not my size, otherwise I would have it myself.


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## Sean1982 (Sep 7, 2009)

I have a few Dunn items, country waistcoats, boaters and the like. Very nice stuff.


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## windsor (Dec 12, 2006)

I have a Dunn sportcoat. Blue herringbone tweed, leather buttons, only one on the cuffs, side vents, two button front,single breasted. Doesn't appear to have any hand work in it. A very "country" coat to my way of thinking because the tweed has a fairly rough hand. Think I paid a dollar for it.


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## Bracemaker (May 11, 2005)

Dunns...still makes my blood boil. They took us for 25K sterling when they went - waited till they had all their Christmas stock delivered from all their suppliers then the next week went into liquidation - we all got 5p in the pound 10 years down the line, the money boys used our stock to cover their positions...


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## bengal-stripe (May 10, 2003)

Bracemaker said:


> ...........waited till they had all their Christmas stock delivered from all their suppliers then the next week went into liquidation - we all got 5p in the pound............


Oops - I must have missed that 'Closing-down Sale'.


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## vwdolly (Sep 26, 2009)

Kingstonian said:


> In all the rose-tinted nostalgia, people forget that Dunn had a very clear image as a shop for pensioners.
> 
> Their garments were seen as grandad stuff back in the day. Their customer base was dying off and not being replaced.


Sadly though there is a revival of many of these styles. I would hazzard a geuss they would have done much better nowadays with a much younger customer base :icon_smile:


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## Kingstonian (Dec 23, 2007)

vwdolly said:


> Sadly though there is a revival of many of these styles. I would hazzard a geuss they would have done much better nowadays with a much younger customer base :icon_smile:


'Shellsuit grandad' certainly would not be shopping there. I doubt there is sufficient interest in Dunns' styles to support a nationwide chain of shops. It is not Hackett either.

My point was more about brand perceptions. Dunn would have no image in the US. Maybe Americans could be persuaded that Dunns was where Lord Snooty went to get kitted out for his shooting parties ? Much the same as a place like Cordings.

British Home Stores is another interesting brand. They offered tweed too, but retro vendors routinely remove the label with a razor blade. If you sold it primarily in the US you may be able to leave the BHS label on the jacket.


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## GBR (Aug 10, 2005)

Bankrupt - 15 or so years ago. Failed to notice that its customers were dieing and that fashion had moved on.


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## silverporsche (Nov 3, 2005)

excellent quality , I purchased two Harris Tweed sport coats while vacationing in England in 1973. The jackets are in excellent condition I added a few changes later to bring them more up to date . Two jackets of that quality today would cost around $900
each ! than I thnk I paid $75.00 each.


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## comrade (May 26, 2005)

They may have been very durable, but I was very unimpressed
with their style. They were very coarse tweed with very
padded shoulders, as I recall. Not the cut that this natural
shoulder Yank would like. Yet, they seemed to sell well
to visiting Americans, particularly academics, who
thought the jackets were a good buy.


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## Kingstonian (Dec 23, 2007)

comrade said:


> Not the cut that this natural
> shoulder Yank would like.


That is because they were cut for Britons of a certain age. If you want that natural shoulder stuff you would have to look in America.


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## Flanderian (Apr 30, 2008)

Kingstonian said:


> Maybe Americans could be persuaded that Dunns was where Lord Snooty went to get kitted out for his shooting parties ?


Ahhh . . . ! You know us well!


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## silverporsche (Nov 3, 2005)

Flanderian said:


> Ahhh . . . ! You know us well!


 I don't think American men are a monolith when it comes to dress. The jackets one grey and the other brown were well done. A bit Conservative and in good taste.
I have since added a few additions such as suede trim and elbow patches. 
Wears very well with turtleneck sweaters and wool slacks. Quite warm in the winter.

I have British , American and European cuts. Adds variety to one's clothing stock.
Church monks or wing tips fits in very well with the jackets as well.
I wish I still had that 1968 E-Type Jaguar roadster and my Jimmy Clark driving gloves.


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## barelli (Sep 8, 2011)

In 1982 I was wandering along a London street and stopped at a Dunn & co. window display. I don't remember everything in the window. What caught my eye was a pair of leather gloves, the kind I'd been looking for. They had a button on the inside of the wrist. I had thought these were no longer made.
Inside the shop was almost bare, lined with dark wood cabinets. The employee and I knelt down before a drawer and he sorted through gloves until he found what I wanted. Then he had to go to another room to get change.
Very British!
Those gloves are nearly 30 years old and still good as new. The leather palms have darkened over the years, but aside from that, they're great. True I don't wear them all the time, but they get their wear in winter or when I go to a colder place, Oregon, Tahoe, etc.
A year or so later, back home, I spotted a clean Harris tweed driving cap ($25) in an antique store. It came from Dunn & Company. I wear that now and then. Much more recently I came upon a very heavy stylish Harris tweed hacking jacket from Dunn & Co. Like new and just my size. Had to have it even though it cost a whopping $4.99US at the Goodwill Store.
In California I don't get too many opportunities to wear a jacket like this, but there will be days. Just having it in my wardrobe gives me a warm feeling all over.
That prompted me to look for Dunn & Co. on the web and now I find to my chagrin that the company is gone. Sad.
Someone else on this site said it was a fuddy-duddy store. That's my kind of store. I'm an old fuddy-duddy.
www.cmalbrecht.com
www.cmalbrecht.wordpress.com


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## peterc (Oct 25, 2007)

I found a 1973-75 era (judging from the width of the lapels and the length of the pocket flaps) 3 button tweed jacket from Dunn at one of my local vintage shops. It fits me very well. I did not notice the padded shoulders but now that I think of it, they are indeed padded. It was a 3 button with a ticket pocket (non hacking) and a deep center vent, which I shortened. I suppose you could call the tweed coarse. I prefer thinking of it as the real mccoy. This jacket was $60.00 and was/is in MINT condition. I would not accept $1,000.00 for it.

Come to think of it, almost every single vintage piece I have fits me better than my non vintage clothes do. Even my tailor comments. 

We didn't know how good we had it with shops like Dunn. 

Sir Paul Smith owns a Bristol, if you get my point.


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## caravan70 (Mar 18, 2010)

barelli said:


> Much more recently I came upon a very heavy stylish Harris tweed hacking jacket from Dunn & Co. Like new and just my size. Had to have it even though it cost a whopping $4.99US at the Goodwill Store.
> In California I don't get too many opportunities to wear a jacket like this, but there will be days. Just having it in my wardrobe gives me a warm feeling all over.


Funny you should mention that... I found a Dunn & Co. Harris Tweed at a Goodwill in Carmichael a few years ago. Built like a tank, and very nice if conservative styling. I often wonder if the previous owner moved to California and simply decided he had no use for it....


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## Chouan (Nov 11, 2009)

I had a Dunn's Harris Tweed jacket for years, and years and years, which I really liked. It went into a charity collection bag some years ago, without my knowing. I hope somebody has been enjoying its comfort and warmth as much as I did. Very conservative styling, and very harsh tweed, but waterproof and wind proof, and, in a NE winter, cold proof, as long as I was wearing a scarf and a pullover underneath.
I miss it a lot.


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## tigerdw (Feb 13, 2008)

no one who was seriously interested in style would ever go into dunn & co,the place was for what we call in the uk for "old duffers".


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## peterc (Oct 25, 2007)

This is a photo of my Dunn jacket taken with my Blackberry.


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## williamson (Jan 15, 2005)

tigerdw said:


> no one who was seriously interested in style would ever go into dunn & co,the place was for what we call in the uk for "old duffers".


For "style" substitute "fashion".
Yes, they were stuck at a particular period, but if you liked the style of that period, you might buy from them.


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## jimskelton1 (Jul 20, 2011)

Just thrifted a chocolate 3 button Dunn & Co. Harris tweed. It is coarse, thick, heavy (7 pounds if my scale is right) and absolutely stunning in appearance. 2 questions: how can one tell if it is a 3-2 roll which has been pressed wrong or a regular 3 button?; and what is the thinking on adding elbow patches to a lovely old piece like this?


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## williamson (Jan 15, 2005)

jimskelton1 said:


> Just thrifted a chocolate 3 button Dunn & Co. Harris tweed...how can one tell if it is a 3-2 roll which has been pressed wrong or a regular 3 button?


3-2 roll is very rare, if not unknown, in the UK, and I would be very surprised indeed if this splendid jacket is any other than a regular 3-button. You have made a very good purchase!
I would only add leather elbow patches if the elbows were very worn and such patches would prolong the life.


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## jimskelton1 (Jul 20, 2011)

Thank you Williamson, i appreciate the input.


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## MikeDT (Aug 22, 2009)

tigerdw said:


> no one who was seriously interested in style would ever go into dunn & co,the place was for what we call in the uk for *"old duffers"*.


Haha...true, I always thought it to be the _old man's shop_ when I was younger. I'm sure Dunn & Co. tried to reinvent themselves with a rebranding as Ciro Citterio or something before finally collapsing completely. Trying to compete with Topman, Next and River Island.


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