Every well-dressed man's wardrobe is a tribute to the influence of great British design. Here, three leading exponents reveal the challenges of creating clothes men really want to wear

MARGARET HOWELL

Traditional tailoring with a modern twist

Margaret Howell has become one of Britain's most successful fashion brands, growing from a quiet start in the 1970s at Howell's kitchen table to an international business with a turnover of £60m and shops throughout Europe and Japan. Yet Howell started her menswear line, in part, because she wanted to make androgynous clothes for herself; quality items that she could throw on and simply forget. "I'm not ultra-feminine and in the 1970s, it was blouses for women; wearing men's shirts wasn't common other than amongst us art students, and I never went for that floral, floaty, hippy business."

Howell's pared-down style and simple but extraordinarily well-made clothes struck a chord. "I came in at a time when men's clothes were very designed – a bit over-designed – and it was hard for men who wanted those classic shapes made modern. I loosened up traditional Jermyn Street shirts and Harris tweed jackets, did the deconstructed bit, and freshened it up. It's the same thing that brands such as Burberry have done recently – making traditional items more exciting for a younger market."

Howell has been doing that ever since: using beautiful fabrics and an imaginative way with details to refresh the classic styles of traditional British menswear for every season.

She added a womenswear line in 1980 and opened a flagship shop in London's Marylebone in 2002 which also sells modernist furniture and kitchenwear, perfectly complementing the clean aesthetic of her clothes. She loves modernist values.

"It's the perfection of making something," she says, "paring it down to the essential which, if the design is at one with the material, will just last and last. That sort of design speaks for itself whether it's an oak table or a cashmere sweater."

Drawing on her 40 years' experience, Howell believes men have always cared about what they wear.

"Men are interested in what they put on themselves," she says. "It's just become more acceptable for them to say that. They're also conscious of trends but in menswear it's about a subtler movement of feeling or fashion; details such as cut, proportion and styling."

One of Howell's key markets is Japan – Asia accounts for 80% of the company's turnover – making her something of an expert in exporting the idea of Britishness.

"Our heritage is a stimulating place to start, isn't it? I think it is British heritage that people like. When you think of the French or the Italians, their looks are much smoother and more chic. Maybe we have a certain honesty or authenticity, a naturalness. Some of our manufacturing was very closely linked to the land, with the natural colours, the wool. There's something quite deep about that that attracts people. It certainly does me. I love the landscape and I love people who are close to that."

Despite all her achievements, Howell says one thing she's particularly proud of is "employing lots of people – they're all very nice and seem to stay with the company for a long time, which is lovely". Her staff stands at over 500 and one current employee at the Marylebone shop is Sean Hart, whom Howell has asked to model for The Observer today. "He looks right," nods Howell, before fretting over the precise fall of Hart's trousers with an endearing perfectionism.

Currently, Howell's main project is organising the Margaret Howell archive, getting it into working order so that she can reissue vintage pieces from old collections. "Surprisingly, those things do work out quite well." She looks faintly surprised. "People still like the clothes."

'Most men just need help to take something slightly different into the changing room': (from left) Matthew Murphy and Kirk Beattie of b Store, with team member Greg Hewitt. Photograph: Suki Dhanda for the Observer

b STORE

Classic basics

Men get scared," says Kirk Beattie. "If there's an art installation in the shop, the average guy doesn't like it. They run a mile if they see a Bernhard Willhelm top with three hoods. They don't know if it's menswear, women's or aliens'."

As co-owner of menswear brand b Store, which celebrates its 10th anniversary in August, Beattie knows what he's talking about. When he and business partner Matthew Murphy first opened their Mayfair shop in 2001, it stocked work by recent fashion graduates alongside their own-brand footwear. The shop gathered a cult following, but it was only when Beattie and Murphy added their own clothing range that b Store made its commercial mark.

"We started the clothes five years ago with a collection called Missing Pieces," says Murphy. "We produced things we felt were missing from our store – the classic blazer, basic shirts. What we didn't realise was these were missing from the menswear market. From the first season, buyers from other shops wanted to include the range. Our shop now stocks 70% own brand because of demand."

The collections stem from Beattie and Murphy's own needs and wants – the current one, London Belongs to Me, was inspired by their old raving days – but trend-driven details never swamp their understated classic clothes. "We like to think we're forward dressers," says Murphy, "but the truth is, all I wear is striped shirts. If I buy a checked shirt I won't wear it."

The pair feel that their gender is undergoing a quiet revolution, though, thanks to the proliferation of menswear blogs. "Social media has helped educate men," says Murphy. "It used to be suits for work and jeans for the weekend, but they're trying new things. They just need help to take something slightly different into the changing room."

Though they say you need a big pot of money and very low blood pressure to go into the menswear business, they're proud of their achievements. They're an international brand, but still operate as a small business, employing a tight team, such as Greg Hewitt, who modelled their clothes for us. He got to know the pair as a customer, but now looks after commerical wholesale for them. "We've done this from pretty much nothing," says Murphy.

Next, they've set their sights on womenswear, but they've hired a new designer to help them with that. "Kirk and I had a go," admits Murphy, "but it wasn't successful."

"Yeah," says Beattie. "We made men's shirts, but a bit smaller."

Branching out: 'I’d rather develop slowly, like a tree growing roots,' says designer Oliver Spencer (far right) with store manager Tom Bodaly. Photograph: Suki Dhanda for the Observer

OLIVER SPENCER

Quirkiness meets utility

I think British culture and clothing has had a huge influence on the rest of the world," says Oliver Spencer. "If you looked at a line-up of current menswear looks and asked someone to pick out the British outfit, you'd find every item has a British influence."

Sitting among the suits, macs, military-inspired jackets and sportswear in Spencer's Bloomsbury shop, which has the whiff of the Victorian gentleman's outfitters about its interior, it's easy to feel the sartorial British imperialism that plays so well in menswear. But though many international brands pay homage to British style, it's still hard to beat the homegrown product, as Oliver Spencer's clothing proves. His eponymous label launched in 2002 with a collection that blended tradition and utility, but his trademark became his love of quirky design. "For men, it's details, details, details," he says. "The lining, the buttons, the pocket angle or flap, the colour on the underside of your raincoat collar."

Spencer first dabbled in fashion at art school, running a stall in Portobello Road before moving on, aged 21, to making waistcoats for friends. In 1990, he opened his first shop – Favourbrook, the formalwear brand in which he is still involved – at just 22. He launched the Oliver Spencer label 12 years later. It's designed, he says, for men who are "a little bit geeky, heavily involved in some chosen path such as graphics or advertising" and he tests the clothes on himself and on his store manager Tom Bodaly. "He's 35 and I'm 43, and if Tom won't wear it and I won't wear it, there's a problem."

He's never lost his passion for designing and still finds new challenges. This year he put on a catwalk show at menswear day during February's London Fashion Week for the first time. "My models were a cross-section of London; interesting-looking men who worked as parole officers, things like that. They were men, not models, so there was a point to the show. It wasn't just about the clothes, it was about the culture of my business."

He says he'll definitely show again, but wishes London Fashion Week for men was taken more seriously. "It shouldn't be an afterthought, held after the womenswear shows, it should be straight after the Paris menswear shows and shown over a couple of days."

At the moment Spencer is very focused on footwear – he's just opened the Oliver Spencer Shoe Shop up the street from his clothing store. He wants to make shoe shopping "a joy" for his customers, but he's also opening a second clothes outlet in Soho later this year.

"I'm expanding slowly. It takes a long time to become something," he says. "And I'd rather develop slowly, like a tree growing roots. I believe in what I do and I want to create something that will outlast me."