Press

Stay Cool Under the Collar - Order Hawes and Curtis Shirts Online Ordering top quality shirts and accessories online has become even easier with the launch of a new, user-friendly website by leading London shirtmakers Hawes and Curtis.

London (PRWeb UK) May 13, 2009 -- There's nothing quite like putting on a crisp, new shirt - especially when it's not necessary to slog up and down the high street to find it. And thanks to a new, state-of-the-art website developed for high-quality shirt suppliers Hawes and Curtis, buying a new shirt over the Internet is now one of life's simplest pleasures. Exuding sophisticated style - just like the ladies and mens shirts it displays - the newly redesigned Hawes and Curtis site is smart and savvy.

Style filters and "set your size" features allow buyers to narrow their search immediately and focus in on exactly the type and size of shirt that they require. Moreover, the new site's convenient rapid view and zoom-in facilities harness state-of-the-art technology to offer an enjoyable shirt-shopping experience, affording online buyers the opportunity to browse at leisure or to refine their search quickly and easily, depending on the time available. Additional features of Hawes and Curtis' stylish and functional website include an improved shop guide, more comprehensive FAQs and detailed order history sections, and even a page dedicated to the long-lost art of tying a tie correctly.

Certainly their extensive range of mens and ladies shirts includes both casual and formal shirts in a veritable cornucopia of styles - from snazzy stripes to colourful checks to plain but definitely not boring! So whether shirt-seekers favour a classic or a relaxed look, there's something here to suit every taste and occasion. Note about the company Premier shirt maker Hawes and Curtis was established by Ralph Hawes and Freddie Curtis in 1913. From its leading online store and outlets across Britain, the company sells a wide range of shirt styles for men and women, plus a selection of ties and cufflinks.

A penchant for a good shirt was the start of a beautiful retail relationship for Hawes & Curtis chief Touker Suleyman. He tell Lisa Berwin what drives him

In 2004 Touker Suleyman found himself with a run down shop on Jermyn Street, an inherited debt of £500,000 and a pile of old stock. After spending almost 30 years as a manufacturer for retailers such as Marks & Spencer, Suleyman and his brother Mustafa had decided to take the plunge into retailing. Buying Hawes & Curtis for £1, the plan was to build a rather worn and fading shirt shop into a luxury brand.

“Having walked Jermyn Street and seen what people were doing I thought I could do better, so I researched every company on that street and discovered Hawes & Curtis was for sale,” recalls Suleyman. However, it soon became apparent that a love of shirts and Jermyn Street would not build him a luxury empire overnight. “We had big decisions to make on where to position ourselves and a friend of mine at Asprey pointed out that we really needed 10 years to build a luxury brand,” says Suleyman. “I did not have 10 years.”

He decided that instead of grasping for a top-end luxury position, he would have to make Hawes & Curtis a real competitor, not only on Jermyn Street but on high streets around the UK.

“Shirts were not thought of as a luxury commodity in their own right, but just a commodity. I wanted to start designing more exclusive products and, to do that, we had to have scale,” he explains. To that end, he rolled out 12 shops in the following 18 months. Suleyman says that the secret to shirts was good fabric and getting them into stores quickly, so he overstocked on fabrics “so that a new product could be brought to store within weeks”.

The brothers experimented with younger, more fitted styles and put new styles in stores every week. “We trialed new shirts on a Saturday and the bestsellers would come back within two weeks.”

After 18 months Suleyman tapped into another market and began making ladies’ shirts, which now accounts for a third of the business. “We found the secret to our success was newness as well as good quality and customer service, so we brought in multiple purchase offers.”

There are now 24 Hawes & Curtis stores in the UK and one in Cologne, Germany. There is also a transactional web site that accounts for about 10 percent of the business. This autumn, a flagship Hawes & Curtis store will open on Jermyn Street. The 8,000 sq ft store will be set over three levels and be the largest shop on the iconic street in London’s West End. “We want this shop to bring back to Jermyn Street the heritage of great shirts,” says Suleyman.

In the basement of the shop there will be a café, called Duke’s Café, which will be a nod to the Duke of Windsor who was historically the brand’s biggest customer. With the business now at a more established level, he hopes the store will also mark a more upmarket positioning for the brand.

Suleyman says that, four years on, his business is not only an income for him but a hobby. “I find retail addictive; I often go around the shops at weekends to spot what the customer is looking for. I like to know before anyone what to expect on a Monday morning and act accordingly.”

Before the end of this year, Hawes & Curtis will launch three more stores in the UK and Suleyman hopes to build the brand to 75 in the next two years. The retailer is also eyeing franchise opportunities. 

in Russia, India and the Far East, as well as a New York flagship. “I think the biggest challenge in retail is building scale and I feel privileged that I had the buying power to be able to buy my own fabrics and expand the business as I did,” Suleyman says.

“There is so much talent out there and many retailers who would expand if only they had the right production or fi nance in place. I think smaller retailers in this country are penalised and that is a shame.”

Hawes & Curtis will not, he hopes, be Suleyman’s only retail venture and one of his future ambitions is to own a luxury womenswear brand. In the meantime, he feels that he is in a stronger position than most apparel retailers – this year he has been able to ramp up sales by 27 per cent.

“At the end of a season fashion is often worthless, but a white shirt is still a white shirt,” he says.