Turnbull & Asser

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Turnbull & Asser
Type Private
Founded London, England, 1885
Headquarters London, England
Key people Ali al-Fayed (President & CEO)
Industry Clothier
Products Clothing
Website www.turnbullandasser.com (American website)
www.turnbullandasser.co.uk (British website)

Turnbull & Asser is a British clothier established in 1885. In addition to its flagship store on Jermyn Street in London, England, it also has two American locations, one in New York City and one in Beverly Hills, California.

Turnbull & Asser is regarded as an exclusive store and has dressed such people as Prince Charles, Sir Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush.[1]. Today, Turnbull & Asser also manufactures some women's clothing. Although extremely traditional outfitters, the company is known for its particularly vivid colours in shirts, knitwear, socks and ties.

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[edit] History

Turnbull & Asser was founded in 1885 by Reginald Turnbull, a hosier, and Ernest Asser, a salesman. Together, they opened a hosiery on Church Street in St. James's in central London, called "John Arthur Turnbull." As the foundation of numerous gentlemen's club reestablished the neighborhood, Turnbull's business flourished. The name was changed to "Turnbull & Asser" in 1895.

In 1903, after continued success, Turnbull & Asser moved to its present location at the corner of Jermyn Street and Bury Street. In 1915, during World War I, Turnbull & Asser developed a raincoat which doubled as a sleeping bag for the British Military. It is known as the Oilsilk Combination Coverall & Ground Sheet[2]. During the 1920s, as dress became less formal, men's dress shirts became more noticeable articles of clothing. Turnbull & Asser responded by focusing its business more on shirtmaking, for which it is most known today.

Between the 1920s and the 1970s, Turnbull & Asser grew its London business from a haberdashery to a clothier, expanding into sportswear, clothing (both bespoke and off-the peg), and off-the-peg shirts. As its symbol, it used a hunting horn with a "Q" above, which it called the "Quorn." Many of Turnbull & Asser's articles were called by this name, such as the popular "Quorn scarf." During the 1960s, Turnbull & Asser even had been known for catering to the Swinging London set, with vibrant colors and "modern" designs. In 1962 Turnbull & Asser began to outfit the cinematic James Bond as first portrayed by Sean Connery, whose dress shirts had turnback cuffs fastened with buttons as opposed to cufflinks, sometimes referred to as the James Bond Cuff[2].

In the 1970s and 1980s, however, Turnbull & Asser began reviving some of the more traditional asepects of its business. The company found that Americans increasingly were buying its wares, so it began offering trunk shows at the Grand Hyatt in New York City. Beginning in 1974, Turnbull & Asser sold ready-to-wear shirts in the United States through department stores Bonwit Teller and Neiman Marcus. For a brief period beginning in 1979, Turnbull & Asser even operated a small store in Toronto.

Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, had bought shirts from Turnbull & Asser since his youth. In 1981, after his marriage to Princess Diana, the Queen bestowed upon him the right to grant royal warrants in his own name. The first warrant he signed was to Turnbull & Asser for shirts.

[edit] Today

Ali al-Fayed, younger brother of Mohammed Al-Fayed, who owns Harrods, bought Turnbull & Asser in 1986. He renovated the Jermyn Street store, installing computerised cash registers and updating the interior. He also closed the Toronto location. In 1993, after the Manchester mill from which Turnbull & Asser bought its cotton closed, most of the fabrics the company used in its shirts began to be woven in Italy. Noticing a continuing influx of Americans to the Jermyn Street location, in 1997 Fayed opened a location on 57th Street in New York City.

In 2003, Fayed opened an additional store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

In 2007, Turnbull & Asser created an on-line store on their British website.

[edit] Cultural references

  • In the 1974 film The Great Gatsby, the famous scene where Daisy Buchanan collapses in tears after seeing Jay Gatsby's shirt collection used Turnbull & Asser shirts (with the boxes and name clearly visible), despite the fact that designer Ralph Lauren had made all the other men's clothes in the film.
  • The 1999 film The Avengers features a scene at Turnbull & Asser's Jermyn Street store, in which John Steed is being measured for bespoke shirts.
  • The famous British spy character James Bond wears bespoke Turnbull & Asser shirts on film, and the store also created a special edition James Bond evening shirt for the 2006 version of Casino Royale.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Turnbull & Asser: About. Retrieved on 2006-07-04.
  2. ^ a b Turnbull & Asser Review. Retrieved on 2006-07-04.