PICTURED: TURNBULL’S RETAIL GENERAL MANAGER, MICHAEL SEARLE AND THE JERMYN STREET TEAM.
Jermyn Street’s Open Door Series will be honouring the brands and businesses that make our street the home of gentleman’s style, and the pinnacle of British craftsmanship, by spotlighting your favourite brands, and the people behind them, as we get ready to invite you through our doors once more!
Turnbull & Asser have spent over 130 years as one of the world’s leading gentleman’s shirtmakers, and have dressed royalty, cultural icons and world leaders from their store at 71-72 Jermyn Street.
Turnbull & Asser was founded in 1885, by hosier John Turnbull and salesman Ernest Asser, originally under the name John Arthur Turnbull. Their shop was in Church Place, St James’s, perfectly positioned amongst the gentlemen’s clubs and exclusive gentlemen’s clothiers, allowing them to establish a discerning client base. In 1895, John Turnbull sadly passed away, and Ernest Asser changed the company name to Turnbull & Asser. Little did he know he was establishing a truly iconic name for generations to come!
In 1903, Turnbull & Asser moved premises to 71-72 Jermyn Street, where the store proudly stands as a sartorial landmark to this day. The brand set a precedent for innovation and, a year into the First World War, they created the Quorn trench coat for the British Military. It was a waterproof coat that doubled as a sleeping bag, made for soldiers fighting in the muddy trenches. When the Second World War broke out, Turnbull & Asser made another contribution to the war effort, this time for the man himself, Winston Churchill. Upon Churchill’s request, they designed the siren suit – a pull-on one-piece, made specifically for wear during air raids in the middle of the night.
The 1960s saw Turnbull & Asser’s business boom, with everyone from the likes of Pablo Picasso, Charlie Chaplin and even Twiggy wearing their designs. In 1962, their long-term relationship with James Bond was forged, with the creation of the Dr No shirt for Sean Connery in his debut Bond film. The Dr No shirt had a turnback cuff, fastened with a button as opposed to a cufflink, which is now referred to as a James Bond cuff. 1970 saw Turnbull & Asser open a new store, moving their Bespoke department from the basement of their flagship Jermyn Street establishment to a new premises on Bury Street next door. Here, to this day, their bespoke team take your measurements and guide you through selecting from over 1000 fabric choices, 20 monogram styles and various collar linings when building your bespoke shirt.
As demand for high-quality shirts continued to grow, Turnbull & Asser tapped into the American market and began selling ready-to-wear shirts in New York and, in 1997, they opened their flagship US store on East 57th Street, before moving to larger premises in 2011, a mark of the brand’s success across the pond. HRH the Prince of Wales was granted the power of bestowing Royal Warrants in 1980, and his first issue was to Turnbull & Asser. The Royal Warrant was accepted by the then Head Cutter, Paul Cuss, before being handed to the now Bespoke Director, Steven Quin, and the firm has been Prince Charles’s shirtmaker ever since.
In 2014, Turnbull & Asser created the shirts, suits and dressing gowns for the spy film Kingsman: The Secret Service, featuring the exceptionally dapper Colin Firth and, in 2015, the company celebrated its 130th anniversary. Turnbull & Asser are extremely proud to be patrons of The Prince’s Trust, supporting and empowering young, vulnerable people to overcome hardship and transform their lives. This patronship began in 2019 and, in 2020, the brand also supported the population during the Covid-19 pandemic by donating a portion of their profits to healthcare workers and the wider community, as well as making scrubs for our hard-working NHS staff.
Turnbull & Asser is still family-run and has built a tight-knit community, from their workshops in Gloucester to the head office team in Mayfair and their stores in London and New York. They believe that it’s not just the level of craftsmanship that make their pieces so special, but also the people behind the brand. Turnbull & Asser’s Gloucester factory employs over sixty of the finest cutters, sewers and pressers. Their shirts are still handmade, comprising 33 individual pieces of the finest material, with bespoke pieces passing through the hands of 16 craftspeople in the construction of each shirt, which can take up to 8 weeks. Sustainability is at the core of their ethos and they continually strive to lower their carbon footprint and donate any left-over material to local initiatives. Turnbull & Asser are rich in history yet forward-thinking, an exquisite heritage brand with an innovative heart, and Jermyn Street wouldn’t be Jermyn Street, without them.