Goodbye, Demos!

At DSI London, we have just said goodbye to our much-loved pattern cutter Demos. Demos joined DSI in 2002 and immediately stood out as an extremely hard-working, loyal and modest member of the team.

In 2002, Demos was already in official retirement and the director at the time, was concerned: ‘How long can he realistically last?’ He lasted 15 years. Gerald Schwanzer, Demos’s line manager back then, couldn’t promise if and how long he could keep Demos busy. He said: “It may be only a few hours a week.” Such were his talents and the explosive growth of business at the time that, within weeks, Demos was full time.

Gerald explains: “I asked him: ‘How much do you want to earn?’ His answer: ‘Try me, see my work, judge it and pay me whatever you deem is fair.’” Gerald adds: “Demos is the personification of loyalty, consistency and modesty. His energy and commitment challenge any youngster and make him the perfect role model with his old-school professionalism and work ethic.”

As a leaving gift, Demos was presented with his original pair of cutting scissors, which were “stolen” secretly from him earlier in the week (to his great annoyance!) and framed, so his scissors are now in retirement too.

Demos is a lifelong supporter of Chelsea and a ticketholder of a fabulous seat, so quite a few DSI employees have had the pleasure of being invited by him to a game. His leaving cake was a Chelsea football ordered from Chelsea Football Club itself.

“Apart from supporting Chelsea, Demos is an honourable and decent man,” laughs Gerald.

While Demos has now officially retired, he has agreed to come in for hours of need on selected days, so thankfully we have not seen the last of him.