BEST-DRESSED MAN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22986, 15 September 1936, Page 11

BEST-DRESSED MAN

EX-NAVVY’S THIRTY SUITS One of London’s most exclusive tailoring firms was recently working at top pressure on an order placed with them by a man who was once a navvy, writes Gwyn Lewis. [The order was for 30 suits, three overcoats, three raincoats and other garments, to the total value of £5lO. The man who will wear these clothes is Mr Samuel Henry Kress, head of the £11,400,000 chain of 243 Kress stores in the United States. He is known as the best-dressed man in the States. Mr Kress gave me an interview in between fittings at Grosvenor House, Park lane, W. The “best-dressed man,” in a grey suit of subdued pattern and impeccable cut, declined to discuss clothes, as is the way with the bestdressed men. I spoke of his navvying days, those jolly, care-free times when a well-built corduroy suit wore for ever. Mr Kress seemed uninterested. His secretary said: “ He is a man of few words, but has achieved wonders. He lost his father in the American Civil War when only a year old. “That war also took the family fortunes, and young Kress had to earn a living selling newspapers after school hours. He later became a labourer in a slate quarry, and as a stone-breaker he built up a powerful physique. “ Then he worked as a clerk in a clothing shop. He may have acquired his liking for good clothes there He always buys the best.”