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Ben Sherman -
...the Mod God who started making shirts from a small, back street factory in Brighton, went on to dress the swinging Sixties and became the King of Carnaby Street.
Alfred Benjamin Sugarman was born on 3rd October 1925 in the English seaside town of Brighton. Declining to join the family business, Rocco’s Gift Shop, 20 year old Alfred boarded a ship for Canada, final destination America.
In the States, he took a series of jobs, which included working as a jewelry salesman, a waiter, and a tobacco picker. He reached Los Angeles in 1953 with 2 failed marriages behind him and quickly met and married his third wife Ruth. Ruth’s father, Aaron Minken, was a very successful clothing manufacturer and took it upon himself to teach Alfred every aspect of the business, from manufacturing to marketing and selling.
One of Minken’s business concerns was a shirt company called Lancia with whom Alfred worked extensively. He found the style of Lancia shirts too conservative for his tastes and desperately tried to bring in his own designs and ideas. Unable to do so, Alfred became bored and frustrated. He was an independent man, an action man, always striving to make things better.
1962 saw the Sugarman family relocating to Brighton and at the same time Alfred changed his name to Ben Sherman. When Ben’s marriage to Ruth ended she and the children returned to the States and Ben brought a small factory in Bedford Square, Brighton.
Ben Sherman recognized this niche and began manufacturing his own range of shirts and beachwear. In 1963 Ben Sherman the brand was born. The Ben Sherman shirt was unique. Special features made it unmistakable; the button down collar was big with a distinctive roll to it and an extra button in the centre back. The shirt front featured plackets cut on the bias and a black label bearing Ben’s name sat on the side of the left hand pocket. Packaged in distinctive black and orange boxes, the “button downs” were sold with enormous success across the UK, Europe and the USA. Business was good and the shirts were adopted by the ever increasing youth cult of the time, the Mods.
Demand overwhelmed the original Brighton factory and in 1969 Ben Sherman increased production, expanding to Northern Ireland to cater to for his rapidly growing market. In December 1972 employees were shocked to learn that Ben had sold his company to the Northern Ireland Finance Corporation.
The following year Ben Sherman took off with his 4th wife to launch new business ventures in Australia. In 1987, 6 weeks after a heart bypass operation Ben died, aged 62.
Ben Sherman has developed from its original roots as the shirt brand into a complete lifestyle brand. The most enduring British phenomenon since the teenager was invented, the Mod, adopted Ben Sherman as its style trademark. The Mod movement was always about everything a teenage aspires to be – stylish, smart, tough, streetwise, good-looking and popular. As true originals, the Mods became national and world news. The media gave them the glamour of notoriety, the Police made them outlaws and their parents were outraged. Youth, embraced them, and the cult was born.
Elements of Mod dress have consistently been the starting point for most street styles. For every revival, appropriation of reinvention of Mod fashion, the smart street style and attitude of Ben Sherman has always been hugely influential. Sherman was committed to quality and to fine tailoring. His shirts had certain unique features – a button down collar, a black pleat and loop – which are now instantly recognizable Ben Sherman details. With renewed focus and continued investment in design and marketing, Ben Sherman, the lifestyle brand, continues to go from strength to strength.
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