Sunspel produced some of the world’s earliest T-shirts. 
In the late 1800s the business made luxury tunics and undershirts from lightweight Sea Island cotton for export 
to the Far East and other warm climates. While these garments initially had silk buttoned plackets, these were removed in the early 1900s and replaced with simple bound necks to reduce manufacturing costs – creating the T-shirt. We’ve supplied the world as the T-shirt has evolved from underwear to outerwear, from symbol of youthful rebellion to everyday wardrobe staple, and we’ve spent decades refining its every last aspect.

Made in Long Eaton, England and crafted from our luxurious long staple Supima cotton for unparalleled softness, comfort and durability, the Sunspel T-Shirt has a classic fit and only the most essential details.

With over 100 years spent perfecting fabric, fit and style, the Sunspel Classic T-shirt is recognised as the finest in the world.

First developed in the 1950s and later tailored for Daniel Craig as James Bond, our signature Riviera Polo Shirt has become a modern classic.

The fit is precise, the details are refined and the fabric is remarkably soft: a lightweight, warp-knit cotton material known as Q75, invented in the 1950s by Sunspel owner Peter Hill for the hot summer sun of the French Riviera.

In 2006 Oscar-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming was tasked with dressing Daniel Craig in the James Bond reboot Casino Royale, making 007 “more casual, more of a global citizen, more contemporary”. To achieve this she came to Sunspel, working with us to tailor the Riviera for Craig’s physique, shortening the arms and making slight tweaks to allow ease of movement in action scenes.

Casual and contemporary, distinctively British and effortlessly stylish, the shirt became an instant hit as an achievable James Bond look. We’ve made the Riviera Polo Shirt to those specifications ever since.

Sunspel introduced the boxer short to Britain in 1947. The great grandson of our founder, John Hill took an American underwear concept – discovered on his honeymoon in the US – and re-engineered it for exceptional comfort. He transformed the basic design, added a back panel, flattened and smoothed the seams and used a long staple fine cotton to create a new style of luxury underwear.

The boxer short remained a niche style until 1985, when model Nick Kamen caused a sensation by taking off his jeans in a
launderette for a Levi’s British TV ad. To the strains Marvin Gaye’s ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’, he revealed a pair of crisp white Sunspel boxers underneath. Although the woven boxer short went mainstream overnight, for those in the know, Sunspel’s has always been the British Boxer Short of choice.