T. M. Lewin Shirtmaker, commonly known as TM Lewin, is a British online menswear retailer. It was started in 1898 by Thomas Mayes Lewin who opened his first shop on London's Panton Street and later moved to

Jermyn Street Jermyn Street is a one-way street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster in London, England. It is to the south of, parallel, and adjacent to Piccadilly. Jermyn Street is known as a street for gentlemen's-clothing retailers. Hist ...

, renowned as a base for formal shirts. TM Lewin started out making shirts but later started to sell suits, outerwear, knitwear, jackets, chinos, ties and accessories for men. The company is headquartered in Farringdon, in the London Borough of Islington. By 2020, it had over 150 stores worldwide. TM Lewin went into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

on 30 June 2020, closing its 66 UK stores. Stonebridge Capital bought the company's assets in a

pre-pack Pre-packaged insolvency (a "pre-pack") is a kind of bankruptcy procedure, where a restructure plan is agreed in advance of a company declaring its insolvency. In the United States pre-packs are often used in a Chapter 11 filing. In the United King ...

deal.

History

19th century

The business was founded by Thomas Mayes Lewin on London's Panton Street in 1898, before moving to Jermyn Street in 1903. Lewin has been credited with popularising the modern, button-front shirt. Before that, men pulled shirts on over their heads.

20th century

During the 1900s, Thomas Mayes developed a reputation for design and quality among London's gentlemen. In 1903, Mr Lewin's “coat shirt” was described as a “novel idea” in '' London Opinion and Today''. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, TM Lewin supplied the RAF and British Army with uniform. TM Lewin was for a time a partnership between Thomas Mayes Lewin and Geoffrey James Lewin, operating from 39 Panton Street in London. Following retirement, the partnership was dissolved from 1 January 1938, the business continuing as TM Lewin and Sons Ltd. In 1978, the McKenna family bought TM Lewin. In 1980, future MD Geoff Quinn joined, and helped grow the company so that it had its first £1m year in 1982. In 1993, the company started an early mail order facility and began moving production from its factory in

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

overseas into Europe.

21st century

2000 saw TM Lewin open its fifth store (at

Ludgate Circus Ludgate Circus is a road junction in the City of London where Farringdon Street/New Bridge Street (the A201) crosses Fleet Street/Ludgate Hill. (Ludgate Hill is a gentle rise to St Paul's Cathedral.) Fleet Street was the only direct road betwe ...

in London) and start testing its promotional offers, something that would become a defining characteristic of the brand. It was also awarded the GQ magazine award for 5* shirt. In 2005, TM Lewin branched out from shirts and started making suits. In the same year, it supplied the ties for the London 2012 Olympic Bid and introduced the 4 for £100 deal. By 2011, TM Lewin had 100 UK stores and outlets and, a year later, it launched its first overseas store (excluding Dublin) in Sydney, Australia. Following a 2015 deal with Bain Capital, Sven Gaede took over as CEO in 2018. In April 2020, the company began talks with potential buyers, as the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

jeopardised the retailer's operations. It was reported that rival menswear retailer

Charles Tyrwhitt Charles Tyrwhitt Shirts Ltd. ( ), also known as CT Shirts, is a British multi-channel clothing retailer specialising in dress shirts, ties, suits, casualwear, shoes and accessories. Founded as a mail order company in 1986 by Nicholas Wheeler w ...

was among a number of parties which submitted offers for TM Lewin. Bain Capital – the private equity group that has been supporting TM Lewin since 2015 through its debt investment arm – was keen to sell the heritage menswear retailer and enlisted corporate finance firm Alantra to conduct an auction. On 13 May 2020, TM Lewin was acquired by Torque Brands, a vehicle of private equity firm Stonebridge Capital. Around 650 of TM Lewin's 700-strong employees were furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme of the UK government, while the stores remain temporarily closed throughout the pandemic. The 50 unfurloughed employees were active in digital operations and supply chain for TM Lewin. On 30 June 2020, TM Lewin announced the closure of all of its 66 UK shops and the redundancy of 600 workers. Stonebridge bought back the brand's remaining assets, including its online business, in a

deal after concluding TM Lewin was no longer viable in its current format.

Campaigns

In 2017, Gary Lineker signed up to be the face of TM Lewin. This partnership continued in 2018 and 2019. TM Lewin has collaborated with several sporting events and teams including

Royal Ascot Ascot Racecourse ("ascot" pronounced , often pronounced ) is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 horse races and ...

, Harlequins (rugby), and the England and Wales Cricket Board. In May 2021, TM Lewin announced that they had partnered with the British & Irish Lions for the

2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa The 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa was an international rugby union tour that took place in South Africa in July and August 2021. The British & Irish Lions, a team selected from players eligible to represent England, Ireland, Scot ...

Stores

As of 2019, the company owned 68 stores in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, and 89 based internationally, including in Ireland,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and across Europe. TM Lewin has collaborated with several brands and mills including

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

, Loro Piana, Albini and Falke.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.tmlewin.co.uk/ Clothing companies based in London Clothing companies established in 1898 Clothing retailers of the United Kingdom Suit makers Online retailers of the United Kingdom Shirts