‘Clothing Maketh the Man’. It was this timeless adage that inspired Master Tailor Joseph D’Souza at a young age, to begin his journey into the intricate world of bespoke tailoring. Through hard work, an eye for perfection and swiftly acquired experience, Joseph D’Souza had mastered the art of handcrafting suits and founded the first Hilton Tailors, 1969.

The story of Hilton Tailors can be most fittingly told through the analogy of a bespoke handcrafted suit. It begins humbly with a blank canvas, an idea, true skill and lots of hard work. And then one carefully crafted component after another, it all comes together to become something - truly grand. That is, the truly grand story of what started out as a family business, now turned into one of the most successful brands in the world of formal wear, recognized for its superior craftsmanship.

Thus, began the 50-year legacy of Hilton Tailors in the Pearl of the Gulf, earning a hard-earned reputation among the gentleman of Bahrain, one meticulously Handmade Suit to another. And so also, over the decades, began the training of the Hilton Tailors’ team of master-craftsmen, taught at the hands of Joseph D’Souza himself to strive for nothing less than artistic perfection with each suit. As meticulous, precise and patient as the twists and turns of a thousand stitches that go into a handcrafted suit, The Hilton Tailors story would take shape at the turn of the new century, upon the tide of the new millennium. George D’Souza, son of Joseph D’Souza, stepped up to help his father further the Hilton legacy, in 2005.

With the vision to expand the reputed Hilton Tailors brand into a full-fledged one-stop Tailoring House that would one day offer the complete bespoke experience, George spent many years travelling and studying the best - traditional and contemporary - tailors and tailoring brands from around the world. To enhance the Hilton Bespoke Experience, George realized early on that since the strength of Hilton Tailors was its experienced skill and expertise in tailoring, what the brand needed now was a vast range of customization options. And keeping this idea in mind, George would expand the Hilton Tailors brand by founding his first store in the capital of Bahrain, Manama - called Hilton Bespoke, in 2011.

From fabric, to style, to add-ons and accessories, the Hilton Bespoke store offered a detailed, customizable tailoring experience for the discerning gentlemen. Here, every suit was made unique to each customer, where the tailor’s skill was put to the test by having to bring out the individual’s preferences and styles.

Significantly expanding the brand’s loyal customer base, the Hilton Bespoke store introduced the Hilton Tailors brand to a newer, more distinguished customer base and thus met with an even greater demand for various styles and customizations. And thus, even though the Hilton Bespoke store met with great success and marked the relevance of the Hilton Tailors in the contemporary world, George D’Souza felt that the brand’s story was only getting started. Thus, setting out on a quest to learn from the best in the world of tailoring, George travelled to Ireland and acquired a formal training under a well-known Savile Row Tailor.

Deemed “the golden mile of tailoring”, Savile Row is considered to be the place where Bespoke Tailoring, the art of handcrafting clothing that’s made to measure, originated. George’s training here taught him a variety of different cuts and skilled techniques to improve the quality of stitching and workmanship. To add to this, here George acquired a deeper understanding of the history of traditional European tailoring and contemporary formal wear trends, while also discovering a world full of premium, formal clothing accessories to bring to shop. Fresh off all this newly acquired experience, George would go on to open the brand’s third new venture, in Juffair Manama, called the Hilton Made to Measure, in 2016.

Combining the expertise of the Hilton Tailors store and the customizability of the Hilton Bespoke store, the Hilton Made to Measure store - as its name indicates - introduced the option of allowing the brand’s vast clientele to now create clothing that was made-to-measure. While Bespoke clothing demanded that a new pattern be created for each individual customer, the made-to-measure option allows customers to choose from a wide array of the best formal wear templates, which could then be tailored to their exact fit. The Hilton Made to Measure store was thus also instrumental in the launch of the brand’s very own ready to wear collection, introducing a premium range of high-end Italian manufactured formal clothing, under the name of Hilton Ready to Wear.

Italian fabrics and high-end Italian suits are an incredulously expensive affair in Bahrain. One of the key highlights of the Hilton Ready to Wear Collection, is that it introduced a plethora of high-end Italian fabrics and suits for economical prices, in Bahrain. The brand also sells a wide range of high-quality shoes, ties, belts, watches and other accessories to create the perfect one-stop premium men’s clothing experience.

However, yet to bring to task his training in the superior Savile Row tailoring techniques, George D’Souza now aims to include high-end fabrics, more detailed Bespoke customizations and stitching techniques, to the brand’s rich repertoire. Also, planning to introduce the complex art of creating completely handmade Full-Canvas Suits, as well as suits using Savilro techniques at a more affordable range for all to experience, the brand is now starting its fourth venture in the Diplomatic Area, Bahrain, by opening a new Hilton Bespoke store, in 2018.

And now finally, this brand which started off nearly 50 years ago at the hands of a skilled young tailor, now home to 50 master-tailors trained over the decades, and once recognized as a family business by the name of Hilton Tailors… Is now a full-fledged Tailoring House that’s home to four renowned tailoring brands, spanning 4 stores and that now goes by the name of -

Hilton Tailoring House

Looking to now expand rapidly across different parts of the world, honing its extensive experience and timeless techniques over the ages, the Hilton Tailoring House brand continues to evolve the time-honored tradition of premium, handmade clothing. Here there are no excuses for flaws and with every piece of clothing produced, no stitch is left unturned to set the benchmark for tailored clothing to the highest of standards.

And it is that eye for detail and a passion to create a product that is as much a work of art as it is a piece of clothing, which is the cornerstone of the company’s success. Thereby, the story of the Hilton Tailors’ success continues to expand, and in a manner that takes after its clothing, in other words - a success that seems to be truly - made to measure.

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