Jermyn Street Shirt Makers

A Short History of the Famous London Street and its Shirts

Jermyn Street is a commercial street that runs through the centre of London in the city of Westminster and is best known as the place to go for the last hundred years for gentlemen to purchase fashionable clothing and other accessories. Besides housing the shops of the most exclusive bespoke tailors and shirtmakers, Jermyn Street is also home to cigar shops, shoemakers, bootmakers and general gentlemen's outfitters.

Jermyn Street Style Shirts

Below are shirts typical of the Jermyn Street style. Although not all men's formal shirts come from Jermyn Street makers these days, below represents the style and quality associated with this iconic street.

History of Jermyn Street

Before Henry VIII in 1532 purchased the entire area in central London surrounding where Jermyn Street now runs, the land had belonged to Eton College, but was little used, being chiefly a marshland. In 1603, James I had the land drained, landscaped and converted to a park with a zoo of exotic animals, among them an elephant, crocodiles and camels, as well as an aviary of birds from foreign lands. Charles II, upon ascending to the throne, rebuilt the area into a public parkland much like the French gardens he had frequented during his exile in France. Between 1675 and 1740, cows grazed on the land and fresh milk could be bought there. In 1761, Buckingham House, at the western edge of the St James area and now better known as Buckingham Palace, was purchased for use by the royal family. What is left of the original public parkland are now the public St. James Park with Park Lake and Duck Island, home to pelicans and other waterfowl, the public Green Park, best known as the original site for Handel's "Music for the Royal Fireworks" premiere performance, and the private Palace Gardens where Queen Elizabeth II presents her garden parties.

Jermyn Street was constructed at the northern edge of the St. James area in London around 1664 by the 1st Earl of St. Albans, Henry Jermyn, at request of the king to develop the area residentially and commercially. In the 18th and 19th century, well-heeled foreigners resided at the Grenier's and the Brunswick hotels on Jermyn Street and patronised Gun's Tavern. Up until the middle of the 20th century, the residential aspect predominated; after World War Two, the commercial side grew.

Jermyn Street Today

The neighbourhood now contains the city's most exclusive gentlemen's clubs, antique shops and art galleries. Christie's auction house is also there. Jermyn Street itself is around the corner from the clubs, running parallel to and south of Piccadilly. Though Beau Brummel, the epitome of elegant men's fashion of his time, never lived on Jermyn Street, his statue graces the intersection with Piccadilly Arcade to exemplify the sartorial nature of the Jermyn Street.

Shirtmakers

Shirtmakers first appear on Jermyn Street around the end of the 19th century. The street's most famous shirtmaker, Turnbull & Asser, opened its Jermyn Street store in 1895; T. M. Lewin opened in 1898. Few shirts are actually made on Jermyn Street. Today, most shirts are made either in Scotland or Ireland or are imported from Asia. Three categories of shirtmaking exist on Jermyn Street: bespoke or custom-made, made-to-measure and ready-to-wear. Any shop offering bespoke tailoring also offers the other categories; any shop offering made-to-measure tailoring also has ready-to-wear shirts.

The following addresses on Jermyn Street house the sellers of bespoke shirts:

• No. 37: Hilditch & Key (also at No. 73)
• No. 53: New & Lingwood
• No. 71: Turnbull & Asser
• No. 77: Harvie & Hudson (also at No. 96 and No. 97)
• No. 112: Emmet London

The following addresses on Jermyn Street house the sellers of made-to-measure shirts:

• No. 85: Thomas Pink
• No. 100: Charles Tyrwhitt

The following addresses on Jermyn Street house the sellers of ready-to-wear shirts:

• No. 23: Hawes & Curtis (also at No. 82)
• No. 68: Duchamp
• No. 87: Hackett
• No. 90: Roderick Charles
• No. 101: DAKS
• No. 106: T. M. Lewin

Turnbull & Asser not only has a royal warrant for shirts bestowed upon the store by Prince Charles, but also was the creator of the shirts with buttoned turnback cuffs worn by Sean Connery in the 1960s James Bond movies.

T. M. Lewin, besides being known as a shirtmaker with over seventy-five stores in the British Isles, provides Club Colours to the British Army and to the RAF.