Ben Sherman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (December 2007) |
| Ben Sherman | |
| Full name | Ben Sherman Group Limited |
| Founded | 1963 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Ben Sherman (born Arthur Bernard Sugarman) |
| Director(s) | Miles Gray |
| Clothing Style | Mod, Skinhead, Casual & various contemporary styles |
| Place of Origin | Brighton, England |
Ben Sherman is a British clothing company, producing shirts, suits, shoes, accessories and other items. Their designs sometimes feature the Royal Air Force roundel which is often called the mod target. Some of the recent Ben Sherman shirts have unusual and complex designs, and have a Carnaby-style fit. The company makes clothing predominantly for men.
[edit] History
The company was founded in 1963 by Arthur Bernard Sugarman (1925-1987), who was born in Brighton and was the son of a Jewish salesman. He emigrated to the United States in 1946, via Canada, and changed his nationality to American. He married the daughter of a Californian clothes producer and later returned to Brighton, where he bought a shirt factory. Sugarman had realised that early 1960s London-based modern jazz fans were eagerly buying the Oxford-cloth US button-down shirt brands such as Brooks Brothers, Arrow and Hathaway, as sported by visiting U.S. jazz artists like Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Oscar Peterson. At the time, these were only available from official importers who had in effect, cornered this growing market.
Sugarman decided to produce a version of these shirts, along with a collection of the colourful resort-wear vacation clothes that were growing in popularity, in both the post-war US, and Mediterranean Europe. Mods responded immediately, especially as Sugarman was using higher-quality materials and stitching detail than the imported shirts. The Ben Sherman Originals label was created, and by 1965, the company had opened a small office on the upper floors of a shabby office-block in a London backstreet. This acted as the showroom for their shirt and beachwear collections. By the late 1960s, the shirt was adopted by the skinhead subculture, and starting in the late 1970s, the shirt became popular with mod revivalists.
[edit] References
- Paolo Hewitt & Terry Rawlings (2004). My Favourite Shirt: A History of Ben Sherman Style.
[edit] External links
- Official Ben Sherman website
- US Ben Sherman website
- Australian Ben Sherman website
- German Ben Sherman website
- Review of a Ben Sherman museum exhibition.
| Mods |
|---|
| 1960s - Blowup - Casuals - United Kingdom - Lambretta - Pete Meaden - Mods & Rockers - Pop art - Quadrophenia (film) - Roundel - Scooter - Scooterboy - Sharpies - Skinhead - Soulboy - Suedehead - Swinging London - Speed (drug) - Twisted Wheel - Union Jack - Youth subculture - Vespa |
| Music |
| 2 Tone - Acid Jazz - Beat music - Blue-eyed soul - Blue Beat - British Invasion - Britpop - Freakbeat - Garage rock - Jazz - Mod revival - Modern soul - Motown - Northern Soul - Power Pop - Psychedelic rock - Reggae - R&B - Rocksteady - Soul - Ska - Stax Records - Trojan Records |
| Clothing |
| Ben Sherman - Bespoke tailoring - Brogues - Carnaby Street - Chelsea boot - Fishtail parka - Fred Perry - Harrington - Levi's - Loafers - Parka - Sta-Prest - Suit |
|
||||||||||||||
