Mencyclopaedia: Norton & Sons/E. Tautz Making Savile Row - and royal trousers - fit for the 21st century. In a span greater than three Diamond Jubilees put together, English tailors have been supplying finely-cut men's clothing labelled Norton & Sons since 1821. Kaiser Wilhelm I, Alfred Hitchcock, Lord Mountbatten and Cary Grant are a few names on its client list. In 2008, a Norton story that splendidly encapsulates the seemingly aspic-clad essence of Savile Row - the ultimate, unchanging source of quality clothes for men of quality - flew into the newspapers when the Duke of Edinburgh sent a pair of trousers back to Norton 51 years after he purchased them. The grey trousers did not need repair, but the Duke reportedly felt that their baggy Fifties cut was beginning to look dated, and wanted the legs narrowed into a more contemporary, streamlined shape. His cutter, John Kent (who has since left Norton), obliged. READ: Mencyclopaedia: Orlebar Brown In truth, this house - like some others among Savile Row's shrunken membership - was until recently looking rather ragged. By the turn of the millennium, output had withered from the 2,000 suits per year it produced in the Sixties to under 100. It employed only one cutter, one tailor, had no apprentices - and went into voluntary receivership. Jacket, £795 At this point, something unusual happened: instead of being snapped up by a shadowy, foreign trophy hunter with more money than sense, Norton was purchased by a Scotsman with more sense than money. In the seven years since, Patrick Grant, 40, has steadily nursed Norton back to health: it now employs three cutters, six tailors and a manager who will this year deliver more than 300 suits averaging £4,000 a pop - which means a turnover of around £1.2 million. "It's not something that you can push," says Grant, "all that you can do is make sure you do everything as well as you can and let the business grow as people tell their friends." READ: Mencyclopaedia: Spencer Hart Where Grant differs from most Savile Row bosses is that he is a frequent, enthusiastic user of the second-most-ungentlemanly f-word in the language: fashion. Under the long-defunct 19th-century name E. Tautz (which came with Norton), he shows jazzily seasonal ready-to-wear at the British Fashion Council's men's collections in London, and is a core member of the capital's turn-ups and no-socks fashion cognoscenti. Grant believes Savile Row, for so long that the source of all innovation in men's clothing, has been left behind since its last great Carnaby Street flowering in the Sixties. After that, Armani and the Italians rose to a position of complete dominance, and Savile Row retreated into the stable but stale position of putting out the same stuff every year. With Tautz, I want to say that Britain has as much relevance as ever, that we are progressive and stylish, and that we have incredible technicians here who can execute that. E. Tautz has not yet set the fashion world alight, but with each collection becomes a little more adventurous, and a little less dependent on its classical, tailoring roots. Should Grant succeed in giving Norton and Tautz the Duke of Edinburgh's trouser-treatment - cunningly re-cutting them to fit the 21st century - then all of Savile Row should benefit. Need to know Get it at: Norton & Sons, 16 Savile Row, London W1S 3PL; 020 7437 0829. E. Tautz; available at Harrods, Selfridges, etautz.com, matchefashion.com and mrporter.com. Read more of Luke Leitch's columns