How it’s made – The Classic T-shirt
We made the world’s first luxury T-shirt in 1908 and have been perfecting it ever since. Today we still handmake every one of our Classic T-shirts in our factory in Long Eaton, England which has been the heart of Sunspel since 1937.
The life of our Classic T-shirt begins in California where the extra-long staple Supima cotton is farmed. We can trace all our Supima cotton right to the exact farm it comes from so we know it’s farmed responsibly. The cotton is spun into extra-fine yarns which are twofold for durability and then knitted into a unique, luxuriously soft fabric which we’ve been refining since we made our first T-shirt in 1908. The fabric then arrives in our Long Eaton factory.
Once here, there are 12 steps involved in crafting the final garment. It begins with the fabric being cut by hand before it is passed onto the sewers. With meticulous attention to detail, they craft the final T-shirt making sure every stitch is perfect. Throughout the production process, each piece is checked 15 times to ensure there are no mistakes made. Once complete, the T-shirt is passed on to be ironed and checked one last time. As a mark of craftsmanship and a guarantee of perfection, the employee who performs the final quality control check adds a sticker with their name on it.
The expertise of the craftspeople in our Long Eaton factory is exceptional. Some have been with us for over 15 years and others come from families who have worked here for generations. The result combines the highest quality cotton, a unique fabric design and over a century of craftsmanship to create a T-shirt that we believe is perfect
