Preacher calls for supermarket extension – By Richard Tyler

A letter to Sir Terry Leahy from a Methodist preacher searching for generously-sized trousers has led Tesco to incorporate 46-inch waists and XXXL tops into a new range of menswear called Stone Bay.

Malcolm Petit, 76, from Chichester, West Sussex, shopped in his local Tesco Extra after becoming impressed with it’s men’s clothing range. The XXL-sized shirts and jumpers all fitted fine, but it did not cater for his 46-inch waist.

“So i wrote to the cheif executive suggesting that this was something that deserved his attention,” Mr Petit said.

Instead of the “anodyne” acknowledgement from customer services he expected, he recieved a personal response from Sir Terry, thanking him for his comments and saying his clothing team would look into it.

“Two days later I recieved a phone call, closely followed by an email, asking for a range of measurements,” said Mr Petit. “I was told a sample pair, or two, of trousers would be made, sent to me and my comments and critisisms would be welcome.”

Three weeks later came a call from his local Tesco Extra asking him to pick up a package. It contained two suits, three pairs of jeans, three tops, two shirts and a box of six ties.

The trousers did not fit first time, so they were sent back and on Monday morning the altered garments arrived at Mr Petits home, “special delivery”. Mr Petit a former marketing director, said he was amazed by Sir Terry’s attention to detail. “In my view, the fact that that ethos drives him and the company goes a long way to show why he, and Tesco, are so successful,” he said.

Tracy Saunders in Tesco’s menswear said: “there’s a new range that comes into stores in February next year that’s a perfect vehicle to add new sizes,” she said.

Mr Petit is more than happy – “I hate to say it, but I don’t ned two suits. What I wanted was a pair of chinos or jeans but I got this whole lot.” He has now turned his story into a sermon.

Good on you Malcolm! And way-to-go Tescos, keep it up!!

Our universities churn out year after year, the best new designers that the world has to offer, but there aren’t enough jobs in the industry for them to fill. So those that don’t immediately find jobs upon graduation either end up working in a call centre or set out alone on the rocky road of self-employment. So why then are companies not making best use of the plethora of talented yet under-employed deigners? Instead they employ designers to blatantly copy designs either straight off the catwalk, or from the ‘looks’ that celebrities (or more commonly their stylists) put together, as seen in the pages of ‘Hello’.

Today I had one such phone call.  An large internet retailer that openly describes its look as ‘celebrity fashion’. I’ll leave it up to you to work out who the company is!!  As a consumer aswell as a designer, I am stuck in the unfortunate position of needing clothes that look good and don’t break the bank, yet the designer in me wants something induvidual, even unique! 

Ethically I feel that I should be supporting designers, and refusing to buy cheap rip offs of designer garments that can be found in EVERY high street store at a fraction of the price.  But when it comes to accepting work as what can fundamentally be described as a ‘copyist’ rather than designer, I know exactly where my morals lie.  If more designers excersised their creativity, and designed innovative ranges for the high street and took more of an ethical stance, refusing retail buyers requests for ‘a version’ of a certain catwalk / celebrity garment, then there would be a greater choice on the high street and surely that would allow consumers to be more innovative and individual in their style?