English American: Carroll’s Custom Tailor to the World

Written By Jennifer Noel

It may be difficult for the man who buys his clothes off the rack to comprehend attire as luxurious as a suit with a 24-karat gold pinstripe, or service that includes a tailor who takes measurements and completes a wardrobe analysis right in your office, but for English American Tailoring, those scenarios are business as usual.

The Westminster company has designed custom shirts for heads of state – among them President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew – and taken such accurate measurements of a client in London that when his wardrobe was shipped from Carroll County, every piece fit perfectly.

Better known to many Carroll County residents by its former name, Carroll Manufacturing, EA Tailoring, which is located at 411 Cranberry Road in Westminster, has created men’s and women’s clothing for business, formal, evening casual, and sport, for more than 100 years.

Its parent company, Tom James, has operations in seven facilities across the United States as well as in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Denmark and Australia.

“We have a mix of old-world craftsmanship and new world technology,” said Mark Falcone, a Carroll Couny native and CEO of EA Tailoring. “It’s the best of both worlds.”

Originally, the business was the custom division of the L.Grief & Bro., Inc., of Baltimore, formerly the nation’s second largest men’s clothing company. The Tom James Company, whose heaquarters are in Franklin, Tennessee, purchased EA Tailoring in 1978, and EA is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Tom James, which claims to be the world’s largest manufacturer and retailer of custom clothing.

The firm does 50 million dollars in wholesale business a year from the 65,000 square-foot Westminster location and sells approximately 2,000 suits each year from an outlet store located at the Westminster facility.
More than 80 percent of EA Tailoring’s business is devoted to handcrafting clients’ specific orders. The remaining 20 percent comes from sales stores that carry labels from Tom James. The skill and precision required to create each piece of clothing takes patience and dedication, said Falcone.

That need is the main reason that EA Tailoring has kept its operations headquarters in Westminster: “Carroll County has a hard working labor force,” Falcone said.“Years back, Carroll County and Baltimore County were rich in outlets for clothing. We have had no reason to move. We attract good, dedicated workers who learn a skill that doesn’t require their nights or weekends.”

Of EA’s 365 employees, some of whom keep operations in the Westminster plant running 24 hours a day, more than 85 percent live in Carroll County. The facility creates 500 suits and 1,500 shirts each day.
A suit sold to a client from the Tom James Company can cost anywhere from $800 to $20,000. Obviously, the custom suit with its gold pinstripe would reach the upper end of the price scale.

EA believes in investing in people, said Falcone. “We believe strongly that you cannot build a business. You build people and people build the business.”

The company operates worldwide, but every piece of clothing produced is American made, company officials stressed. For example, EA Tailoring owns a textile mill in Santiago, Chile, where yarns and fabrics are hand spun, silks are imported from Italy, and wools are shipped from elsewhere in Europe.

Tom James, and by extension EA Tailoring, depends not only on sales professionals to keep clients returning, but on customer satisfaction with a quality of clothing that employees produce.

The company’s success often inspires other businesses to attempt duplicating EA Tailoring’s business model. But Falcone is quick to note:“The commitment of EA’s workforce is difficult to repeat.”

The company is “constantly faced with changing styles and fabrications,” Falcone said. “The likes and dislikes of our clients are the interesting part of the business.

“Not only are we outfitting customers, we are helping to build their reputations and make professional impressions in the corporate world. We want to continue selling smiles and making people happy; most of our customers come back because we do our job right.”

EA Tailoring also believes in building a strong community. The company participates annually in job fairs as well as student grant programs at McDaniel College and Carroll Community College. Falcone noted that EA also donates over $10,000 to local charities and provides clothing and suits for silent auctions.

“We are proud that English American Tailoring, one of our largest manufacturers, continues to make high-end garments in Carroll County, succeeding in a very competitive global industry,” said Denise Beaver, Deputy Director Carroll County Economic Development. “Their success is a testament to the quality and productivity of our workforce.”