Turnbull & Asser: The best of British

Luke Leitch gives you the low-down on Turnbull & Asser, a quintessentially British blend of know-how and can-do.

BY Luke Leitch | 02 September 2011

Photo: GETTY Photo: REUTERS

As if the gravest peril ever to threaten this nation wasn't enough, Winston Churchill also faced this fiendishly thorny dress dilemma: how could he sleep in pyjama-clad comfort yet be ready to dash for shelter at an instant's notice in attire befitting the prime minister?

Roomily cut in bottle-green velvet and with a cigar jammed in its breast pocket, his ingenious solution is displayed in the Jermyn Street basement of the company that he commissioned to make it, Turnbull & Asser.

The 125-year-old shirtmaker drips with historical treasures such as the Siren Suit, Churchill's quick-to-slip-on all-in-one inspired by bricklayers' boiler suits.

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James Bond nerds (and recently, a cat-suit wearing nerdette) regularly troop in to moon over reproductions of the T&A shirts worn by Sean Connery in Dr No and by Daniel Craig in Casino Royale .

The Prince of Wales awarded his first warrant to the firm, which makes all of his shirts. And now his sons have picked up the T & A habit, too, although because it was entirely upstaged by his fiancée's Reiss dress, few noticed that Prince William's engagement-photograph ensemble (shoes apart) was bought here.

Step into T&A and it is tempting to sink into the rich red carpet and just gawp at the Siren Suit, signed photographs of starry customers and spectacular wooden display cabinet dedicated solely to royal-warranted boxer shorts. Yet while the prices are almost as breathtaking as its heritage (off-the-shelf shirts start at £135, bespoke at £210), T&A does something that increasingly few other firms do: it makes everything in Britain.

At Quedgeley, in Gloucester, 93 people work at the recently enlarged T&A factory, with 10 more planned to join them soon. "We're slowly raising the skills level," says managing director Steven Miller, "and talking to the local council about establishing a training scheme."

The lustrous knitwear all comes from a Scottish cashmere specialist, and the silk for the ties is woven in Suffolk. Sadly, the best-quality cottons for the shirts now come from Italian and Swiss firms, but this is simply because there remain no British companies equipped to produce them.

Mr Miller says the Gloucester factory can rustle up anything from umbrellas handled to a specific length, shirts pocketed in the most unorthodox of places, or boxer shorts created to the most extreme personal requirements.

More commonly, customers want a shirt that fits perfectly, looks fantastic and will last. To achieve that fit, T&A's gentlemanly staff measure every lumpen oddity of your torso, trace the resulting pattern on to a paper template and email the result to Quedgeley. Combined with the customer's collar, cuff, lining, button, pocket and pattern choices, the factory will then produce the shirt.

Alternatively, you can just swing by the shop and pick up a shirt off the shelf. As well as Churchill, the Royals and Bond, the list of fellow aficionados includes Alexander McQueen, Sir John Gielgud, Woody Allen, Eric Clapton, General Pinochet, Tom Selleck and Ronnie Corbett.

Men's autumn/winter 2011 fashion hotlist: A particularly good time to do this is next Saturday, September 10, when Jermyn Street will be closed to traffic so that all the old businesses on the world's best men's shopping strip can show off a bit. Alongside a hog roast and a tombola to benefit a local church, the shirt makers, shoe makers and tailors of Jermyn will stage demonstrations for an event called "The Art of Being British".

Yes, it's all rather quaint, but faced with the multi-million-pound marketing budgets and made-in-China manufacturing heft of the 21st century mega-companies, quiet British jewels such as Turnbull & Asser need to win all the new admirers they can.

Turnbull & Asser

Best for: beautifully fitted British-made shirts, especially if you like them bright

Also notable: pulsatingly coloured hankerchiefs, ties and socks. And some surprisingly sober suits to wear them against

Find them at: 71 Jermyn Street, bespoke available from 23 Bury Street. Further branches in the City, Harrods, New York and Los Angeles

Buy online at : turnbullandasser.com

See: Jermynstreet.net/news for more information on The Art of Being British