Biography
Over the past decade Grant has brought two floundering Savile Row tailoring houses back to greatness. In 2015, he won a BFC/GQ Fashion Fund grant and opened his first flagship for E. Tautz, on London’s Duke Street, around the corner from the 19th century label’s original store on Oxford Street.
With no formal training in fashion, he studied material sciences and engineering but launched himself into the industry while he was still in the middle of his MBA at Saïd Business School at Oxford. In 2005, he saw an advert in the FT for the sale of Norton & Sons, a tailor established in 1821 that had once dressed Cary Grant, Alfred Hitchcock and Kaiser Wilhelm I. Mortgaging everything he owned, Grant bought the company on a whim.
By dragging the tailor into the 21st century, Grant was able to pull it back to profitability. Bespoke business had tripled by 2011 and Grant was making his mark in the menswear world. Norton & Sons has since created tailored catwalk looks for the likes of Christopher Kane and Henry Holland.
In 2009, Grant expanded into ready-to-wear with the re-launch of another traditional London tailor, the then-defunct E. Tautz who once made clothes for Winston Churchill. A year later, Grant was awarded menswear designer of the year at the British Fashion Awards. Since then, Norton & Sons and E. Tautz have grown to have a turnover of more than £1 million (around $1.55 million) each year, and E. Tautz has collaborated with Christian Louboutin , Barbour and J Crew.
In 2013, Grant was made an Honorary Professor at Glasgow Caledonian University’s School of Business and Society, in 2016, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) while in 2017, he was awarded an honorary degree by Heriot-Watt University.
In 2016, Grant launched Community Clothing making affordable ethical clothing and supporting UK textile jobs. In 2020, Community Clothing launched Homgrown/Homespun a project to restart flax growing and linen textile production in the UK.
Patrick is a regular fixture on television and radio as a commentator on British fashion, clothing and textile industries. He has also contributed to several TV documentaries, including Savile Row, Harris Tweed and The Perfect Suit. From 2013 to 2019, Grant has been a judge on The Great British Sewing Bee, a BBC Two reality show where amateur sewers compete to be named "Britain's best home sewer."