Coles Shirtmakers Established 1878.The early years -
William Coles, born in 1854, was the thirteenth child of a farming family sent to London to make his fortune in the retail trade. He became apprenticed to a haberdasher. By 1878 he had saved up enough money to go in to business on his own account with Mr. George Parrott. Mr. Coles and Mr. Parrott soon had two shops, one of which was at 25 Brompton Road. The shops quickly flourished trading with the gentlemen who inhabited the fine houses in the area. In 1882, William Coles married Eliza Pring; daughter of a Brompton Road greengrocer and with the additional resources that she brought was able to buy out Mr. Parott.
In the early years of the twentieth century the shop was requisitioned to facilitate the building of the Knightsbridge Station for the London Underground Railway. Coles moved to 147 Knightsbridge where it was styled “Shirt and Pyjama Specialists”.
Coles’ brochure in the early twenties speaks of men’s shirts and ladies’ sports shirts costing “Best Zephyr, fifteen shillings and sixpence”, “Collars, two shillings and thrupence”, “Taffeta All Wool and Cashmere All Wool, twenty nine shillings and sixpence”.
The family business -
William Coles had two sons and a daughter. One of the sons, William Pring Coles came into the business together with his sister Gladys who acted as bookkeeper for many years. William Coles died in 1940. In the twenties the military trade developed very successfully. Wealthy families bought commissions in the Army for their son’s who were then required by the rules of their regiment to have their shirts supplied by Coles.
Between the wars the shop was a 'private place' - high backs to the windows and frosted glass doors. Despite the slump of the 1930's, Coles became increasingly prosperous.
After the death of William P. Coles in 1956, the business passed to his only child, Kenneth, who had a separate career as an industrial chemist. Staffed by men who had, in some cases, been in the firm for over 20 years it continued under the management of Mr A.C. Martin - the head cutter, and Mr G.A. Headen. Later Mr Richard Woolnough took over the running of the business and during this period another shop in Savile Row was taken and a modernisation programme began.
The company moved to premises at 131 Sloane Street in 1972. From the middle of the 1970's until the 1980's Timothy Coles, son of Kenneth, ran the company.
Modernisation of Coles -
During 2005, in response to requests from around the world, Coles created a wholesale collection. This has made Coles' exceptional quality shirts even more available to the discerning public. The collection is now in some of the finest stores in Europe and is set to spread worldwide.
Things have, therefore, gone full circle. We have witnessed the rise and subsequent decline of Jermyn Street as a shirtmaking centre whilst Coles’ ethic of quality and service, its growth and reputation as a business continues unabated.
That development was substantially enhanced by the acquisition of Coles by Glenaden Shirts of Londonderry, Northern Ireland in 2006. Glenaden shirts is a state of the art shirt manufacturing facility able to make volume production along with bespoke tailor made creations. Quality is paramount with fabric sourced from the finest spinners worldwide. Design, development and Innovation is ongoing to produce the finest shirts money can buy.