A British clothing brand best known for T-shirts, still made in its own factory in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, since 1937, and founded in Nottingham in the 1860s.
Sunspel is a British clothing brand known for high-quality T-shirts, underwear and everyday basics. Its own site says it is the only brand to make luxury T-shirts from its own factory in the UK. It also sells polo shirts, knitwear, boxer shorts, outerwear, shoes, socks, belts and fragrances, many of them made by partner factories. The company says it makes timeless luxury clothing from the world's finest fabrics.
Sunspel began in Nottingham, which the company calls the capital of Britain's hosiery and lace industry. It has been a family business for most of its roughly 160-year history. In the early 20th century it adapted lace warp-knit machines to make cellular cotton fabric, and in 1947 its owner John Hill invented the British boxer short. The brand says its values are quality, craftsmanship and attention to detail, together with ethical working practices and environmental care, such as non-mulesed wool and OEKO-TEX standards. It says its commitment to community and a job well done remains the same.
The company moved to its Long Eaton factory, in Derbyshire near Nottingham, in 1937, and its core garments are still made there. Other products are made by small partner factories, mostly family-owned: Hawick cashmere in the Scottish Borders using machines from the early 1920s, shoes in Northampton, each of which takes 260 processes, and yarn from Todd & Duncan in Scotland. Some are also made abroad, including in Portugal and Japan. Sunspel also has shops, such as in London; we did not read a full UK shop list.
The factory pages describe a hands-on culture where old knitting machines are used by skilled people and garments are finished by hand. The company notes that partner makers share its views on quality, ethics and environmental responsibility, and says that water is treated before returning to rivers. These are the company's own claims, and we did not find numbers for staff at Long Eaton or elsewhere. The brand's long association with film, including its use in Bond films, is mentioned in third-party features rather than the pages we read, so we have not relied on it.
A manufacturer with its own factory offers jobs for knitters, cutters, sewing machinists, quality checkers and technicians, plus designers and product developers, buyers and merchandisers, shop and e-commerce teams, and people in marketing, finance and logistics. It is a good example of how fashion jobs exist across the Midlands as well as in London. The company's website lists current roles.
Website: www.sunspel.com
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