Mates by Irvine Sellars was a British fashion retail chain founded by

Irvine Sellar Irvine Gerald Sellar (3 September 1934 – 26 February 2017) was an English fashion retailer, and later property developer. He was the founder of the Sellar Property Group, and the developer of The Shard. Early life Sellar was born on 3 Septembe ...

. Mates started with one shop is

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

Carnaby Street Carnaby Street is a pedestrianised shopping street in Soho in the City of Westminster, Central London. Close to Oxford Street and Regent Street, it is home to fashion and lifestyle retailers, including many independent fashion boutiques. Stre ...

and grew to become "Britain’s second-biggest fashion chain" with 90 shops in 1981, when it was sold to a South African investor. Sellar claimed that Mates was the first retail chain to sell men's and women's clothing under the same roof, and that they had 3,000 employees.

References

{{Reflist Clothing retailers of the United Kingdom British brands 1960s fashion 1970s fashion 1980s fashion