The new man

The New Man. As he was drawn by Douglas in Spring 1933.

This magazine was produced by The Rego Clothiers Ltd. ‘The New man – take a look at him, note his smart, clean-cut lines, the faultless fitting of his every garment, the good taste displayed, and his air of easy confidence. He is a Rego customer and we are proud of him.’

Rego is a company name that hasn’t really gone down in history, as far as I am aware. It’s a shame, that. Because this is very much the working man’s answer to Austin Reed and Simpson of Piccadilly, both of which had an in-house publication schedule of booklets and magazines. In fact Austin Reed had a very smart in-house magazine called Modern Man running in 1933, coincidence? Probably Not.

Rego were listed as tailors back in 1921 when they had a retail branch and production premises in the East End. I found an interesting snippet about a Rego workers strike (including a song!) in 1928, when the company moved production from Bethnal Green Road to Edmonton. By 1933 and our be-suited gent here, Rego had 86 branches in ‘London & provinces’. And Head Offices in Edmonton, indeed. Pretty big stuff. Not as big as Burton’s but not small, either.

So, the tone of this magazine is very Austin Reed-y too. The illustrations like a poor mans version of theirs. Douglas did these, Fougasse did theirs. And the copy is slightly witty and knowing in that Austin Reed manner, too. Amongst other articles of interest here you could read ‘Why girls detest me’ by Maurice Lane-Norcott. Because, we read: ‘The work of being incorrigibly clothes-conscious takes ones attention off women completely.’ Or you could follow a conversation between ‘Mr Warp & Mr Weft’ as ‘there is no reason why you should not, yourself, know something useful about cloth.’

And finally, you could jolly well enjoy a get together (on a very nice cretonne covered armchair) with your men friends, all in various states of Rego dishabille. Whilst smoking and being, well, manly.