The Team

James Sheed

Cloth Enthusiast

Viviana Galeano

Customer Service Coordinator

Nancy Sheed

Mrs. Marketing Coordinator

About

Kemp and Hewitt is an importer, distributor and representative of European luxury textiles catering specifically to American menswear tailors and designers. Providing unparalleled customer service with a breadth of consistently stylish fabrics is our number one objective.

2010
Launched by “Cloth Enthusiast” James Sheed, Kemp and Hewitt successfully introduced the Ariston collection, an Italian line of lifestyle cloths, to the US market.

2012
Kemp and Hewitt began carrying Anthime Mouley accessories, and introduced the rare Escorial line into the North American market. Beginning in January 2013, Kemp and Hewitt added Ermenegildo Zegna Cloth to its portfolio of fine European collections.

2015
Kemp and Hewitt celebrates its fifth year in business supporting the leading tailors and designers in America by providing quality, stylish and luxurious fabrics for discerning gentlemen and fashion tastemakers.

2018
The breadth of the collections was expanded when Kemp and Hewitt began representing Harrisons of Edinburgh and the well established English collections of H Lesser, W Bill, Smith Woollens, LBD Linings, and Porter & Harding.

History

Kemp and Hewitt was a traditional “West of England” mill located in Nailsworth, Near Stroud Gloucestershire, and run by James Sheed’s grandfather, William Lovell-Hewitt, and his family. Fully vertical, the mill was known for supplying Cheviots, Cavalry Twills, Whipcords, and Bedford cords to many of the powerful London woolen merchants.

At one point, Kemp and Hewitt was the largest producer of billiard table cloth. It also etched its place in the history books when Lovell-Hewitt pioneered the modern tennis ball in collaboration with the Avon Rubber Co., and Kemp and Hewitt became the sole supplier of this cloth for many years.

The mill closed over 30 years ago, as demand for the these heavy traditional cloths diminished. However, it still stands today, converted into residential apartments.

Though that era is no longer, the high standards of quality maintained by James’s grandfather over a half a century ago live on today with James at Kemp and Hewitt in the U.S.