Joanna Spreadbury, an apprentice at the Savile Row house Huntsman, won the Golden Shears on Monday 17 March 2025 at Merchant Taylors' Hall in the City of London. The biennial competition for apprentice tailors and tailoring students marked its 50th anniversary with this edition. Spreadbury received the Golden Shears trophy and $4,000.
Tilda Jonathan, a student at London College of Fashion, won second prize, the Silver Shears, and $3,300. Kasia Hughes, an apprentice at Connock & Lockie, took third prize, the Rising Star award, and $2,600.
How the competition works
The Golden Shears was founded in 1974 by Robert Bright MBE and is held every two years. It is open to tailoring students and apprentices across the UK. Savile Row Style reported nearly 90 entries this year. Of the 25 finalists, ten were apprentices with tailors on Savile Row, including members of the Savile Row Bespoke Association (SRBA), and fifteen were university or college students.
Each garment is first marked for technical merit by a panel of working tailors, then judged by a style panel during the final show. The 2025 technical judges were Joe Morgan of Chittleborough & Morgan, Will Adams of Dunhill, Patrick Murphy of Davies & Son, Juan Carlos Benito of Monte Lys and Brigitte Stepputtis of Vivienne Westwood. The style panel was Lisa Armstrong OBE, head of fashion at The Telegraph; Jo Hooper, founder of NRBY Clothing; the fashion editor Catherine Hayward; the designer Stuart Trevor, founder of All Saints; and Jayesh Vaghela, master hatter at Lock & Co. and resident hatter on the BBC's The Repair Shop.
For the anniversary, the organizers replaced the usual catwalk with a more intimate salon-style show. The evening was hosted by the broadcaster Nick Hewer and Simon Cundey, managing director of Henry Poole & Co. Supporters included the CAPITB Trust, the Drapers' Company, the Merchant Taylors' Company and the Pollen Estate.
“The Golden Shears 2025 at Merchant Taylors' Hall was an exemplary showcase of tailoring excellence.”
Lady Annie Harding, chair of the Golden Shears committee, to Savile Row Style
Fifty years on display
The anniversary continued into the autumn. From 15 to 27 September 2025, during London Fashion Week, the Pollen Estate and the street's tailors presented a free exhibition of work by past winners and entrants in the windows of Henry Poole & Co, Huntsman, Richard James, Dege & Skinner and Gieves & Hawkes. The London Academy of Bespoke, the SRBA's training partner, hosted a separate exhibition on the competition's history at 19 Savile Row. Past winners include Emily Bright, who won in 2013 as a Henry Poole apprentice.
Why it matters
The Golden Shears gives the public a view of the next generation of British tailors, and this year the top prize went to an apprentice working in a Savile Row house that makes clothes for paying clients. Spreadbury later spoke to students on the London Academy of Bespoke's pre-apprenticeship course about her training, the SRBA reported in February 2026. For readers curious about the work being judged, our guide to how a bespoke suit is made explains the stages from cutting to finishing.
