Scabal

Scabal was founded in Brussels in 1938 by Otto Hertz, a textile merchant whose company name — Société Commerciale Anglo-Belgo-Allemande-Luxembourgeoise — signaled international ambitions from the outset, sourcing and supplying fine cloth across borders rather than serving a single national market. That same year, Hertz is credited with inventing the fabric swatch book, now a standard tool across the tailoring trade for showing clients cloth options without shipping full bolts. For much of its early history the company operated primarily as a textile supplier rather than a retailer, weaving cloth at its own mill and supplying it to established fashion houses and tailors. It acquired the Bower Roebuck mill in Huddersfield, in England's historic wool-weaving region, giving it direct control over cloth production rather than relying solely on outside weavers. In 1972 Scabal opened its own shop at No. 12 Savile Row in London, placing it on the street most associated with English bespoke tailoring, from where it now supplies cloth daily to neighboring tailoring houses and to customers in more than seventy countries. The company remains independently family-owned and manufactures across Western Europe rather than outsourcing production abroad, and it also operates a made-to-measure location in Paris alongside its Brussels and London addresses.