Montague Burton Ltd. was founded in 1900 by Mr. (later
Sir) Montague Burton. A shop in Chesterfield originally sold the
full range of men's and boys' clothing. There was only a very
limited size range of ready-to-wear suits available at the modest
prices which Burton customers could pay, but the company felt that
it should be possible to offer a made-to-measure suit to the
ordinary working man. This was a completely new departure from the
previous trading pattern, but it was found possible to make
arrangements with a small Leeds clothing manufacturer for this idea
to be put into practice
In 1910, in order to secure an adequate supply of made-to-measure
garments, the business began to manufacture its own clothing.
Production was small and was carried on in a small, but growing,
number of workshops. Burton said that the founder adopted the
principle of developing a substantial turnover at a moderate profit
margin, and that the importance of maintaining volume sales in the
shops was emphasised by the entry into manufacture, since to keep
production on an economic basis the factory had to be kept busy
throughout the year. The philosophy was that the efficient
operation of the business demanded the co-operation of all workers
and that this could best be obtained by paying good wages and giving
good factory conditions. The prosperity of the business, on which
good wages and conditions must depend, was based on putting into the
suits sold the highest quality material that could possibly be used
so that the customer would be so satisfied that he would return
again and again.
After the first world war it
was decided to consolidate the manufacturing part of the business,
and a large site was acquired on the outskirts of Leeds for a
factory. At that time there were forty shops. In the following years
Burton concentrated on the sale of outerwear produced in its own
factories.
In 1929 Burton became a public
company. By that time the number of shops had reached 200, and
between 1929 and 1939 the business continued to expand. During this
period Burton began to manufacture cloth for its own use, and cloth
production became a very large business in itself.
In 1947 it was decided to
enter the ladies' retail clothing field, and for this purpose Burton
acquired Peter Robinson Ltd. In 1952 Sir Montague Burton died, and
in the following year, ino rder to provide for the future management
of the company, Burton acquired Jackson the Tailor Ltd.
Jackson was a much smaller business than Burton and at the time of
its acquisition had about fifty shops. The Jackson directors joined
the board of Burton.
After 1953 it was recognised
that the men's clothing trade was becoming increasingly a fashion
field and that the previous policy of making very large quantities
of standard cloth was not offering its customers what they really
wanted. In consequence of this, and because the new management
considered that it was unwise for a tailoring business with limited
experience of the cloth industry to undertake cloth manufacturing,
Burton gave up cloth manufacture and disposed of all its cloth
production facilities.
The retail and outerwear
manufacturing activities of the group were, however, carried on
after 1953 substantially as before. New shops were opened, and shops
were closed where they were found to be unprofitable.
In 1963 Burton acquired
control of a French company called Societe Anonyme du Vetement
Approprie, which then operated one clothing factory in Paris and
four shops. |
