Cheap T M Lewin shirts.. 5 for £100

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once you sign up expect regular mails advising of further deals both on line and in their shops. Great value IMHO.
 
Yes they are good shirts. I usually wait for there sale at there Jermyn St shop in London.

Many thanks.
 
I ordered 5 shirts on this deal a while back - someone posted a link when I started a trhead about removing ink from a washload of shirts!!

Three of them are great. Two of them are awful to iron (according to Mrs D).
 
They're a cut (pun intended) above what you might find in some mass market shops, but don't kid yourself that you're getting Jermyn St quality for that price. I can't remember the last time Lewins weren't selling shirts for £20-£25, so that's clearly what they're worth. They may still have their flagship store(s) in Jermyn St, but the Lewin family haven't been involved since the late 1970s, and since then the company has gone all out for market share, opening dozens of shops all over the country and exporting manufacture to whoever can do it the cheapest. After the eastern Europeans priced themselves out of the market, Lewins moved production of their volume lines to China, using Chinese-grown and woven cotton. That's why they're knocking them out at what seem to be 5-for-the-price-of-1 deals. Go into it with your eyes open and you won't be disappointed.
 
I bought five as it looked a good deal
nice shirts
not so easy to iron apparently
yep a good deal - they do lots of different sleeve lengths too
and the bones in the collars are half decent if you are fussy

agree *** they are suitable for work - and i dont even wear a tie these days :)eek:)
 
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agree *** they are suitable for work - and i dont even wear a tie these days :)eek:)

Our work place is business casual Mon-Thursday, decent shirt and trousers (I got in Next, why I must be the scum of the earth) and good to go....

Wish it was dress down day all week, far easier, jeans and t shirt, jobs a good 'un....
 
They're a cut (pun intended) above what you might find in some mass market shops, but don't kid yourself that you're getting Jermyn St quality for that price. I can't remember the last time Lewins weren't selling shirts for £20-£25, so that's clearly what they're worth. They may still have their flagship store(s) in Jermyn St, but the Lewin family haven't been involved since the late 1970s, and since then the company has gone all out for market share, opening dozens of shops all over the country and exporting manufacture to whoever can do it the cheapest. After the eastern Europeans priced themselves out of the market, Lewins moved production of their volume lines to China, using Chinese-grown and woven cotton. That's why they're knocking them out at what seem to be 5-for-the-price-of-1 deals. Go into it with your eyes open and you won't be disappointed.

I never used Lewins, preferring Hilditch and Key's full collar to the Lewin semi cutaway, but when I started work, these were all high quality shirtmakers, with double stitching, mother of pearl buttons, workroom made in England with magnificent Eqyptian cotton poplin. A bargain in the sales at £40 a shirt, and I still have a large number from the late 80s in my wardrobe, in hope more than expectation that my figure will return to the size of my late youth (before I discovered haute cuisine and all that went with it).

Now all these places knock out a decent product in perpetual sales with none of the mystique or quality, while luxury good pricing goes stratospheric, a great English luxury, the Jermyn Street shirt, is knocked out at M&S prices. It would be a bit like Aston Martin flogging a DB9 for the price of a Mondeo. I am not sure what the business school gurus would think of it, but to me something doesn't really add up. The last time I went into Hilditch and Key the staff just stood around chatting, and the woman who served me didn't have a clue and clearly was fed up with being asked to serve rather than witter on about the train service from Southend. Jermyn Street is trading off a reputation that was being lost 20 years ago.

Ironing is difficult, and if you don't do it yourself, learn to - they have to be semi-damp, you must stretch the cotton as you iron, especially the seams, collars must be ironed inwards to prevent a fold in the cotton at the seam at the collar wing, double cuffs must be ironed inwards and flat - if you iron these folded you will get a permanent crease in the lining that makes them look extremely ugly. Your Missus/gf/bf/Filipino maid will not thank you for handing these over to be ironed if they are not used to it - a badly ironed one looks dreadful.
 
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Morning all. Man at Matalan here.

Asda currently have a sale on (Cue Charles spluttering his morning tea over the keyboard)
Asda's Boston Crew range is down from £12.50 to £8! An acceptable short sleeved shirt to wear at informal summer gatherings. Being 100% linen they also make excellent engine bay cleaning rags once they are done.
 
Morning all. Man at Matalan here.

Asda currently have a sale on (Cue Charles spluttering his morning tea over the keyboard)

Just spluttered my Monsoon Malabar coffee all over the keyboard....:ban:
 
I never used Lewins, preferring Hilditch and Key's full collar to the Lewin semi cutaway, but when I started work, these were all high quality shirtmakers, with double stitching, mother of pearl buttons, workroom made in England with magnificent Eqyptian cotton poplin. A bargain in the sales at £40 a shirt, and I still have a large number from the late 80s in my wardrobe, in hope more than expectation that my figure will return to the size of my late youth (before I discovered haute cuisine and all that went with it).

Yes, I think I caught the dying days of the authentic era when I first started buying my own shirts. Back then you could be assured of a decent product from any of Jermyn Street's purveryors. I never had any particular alleigance, having given my custom to everyone from Turnbull & Asser to Herbie Frogg (yes, really) over the years. However, I always used to have a soft spot for Burberry's shirts when they had their store in Haymarket.

To be fair to TM Lewin, they do still offer offer high-quality shirts alongside the pile-'em-high lines but, as you've mentioned, the buying experience has been greatly diminished and I can't help having a nagging doubt that they've made compromises across the range, regardless of price.

Ironing is difficult, and if you don't do it yourself, learn to - they have to be semi-damp, you must stretch the cotton as you iron, especially the seams, collars must be ironed inwards to prevent a fold in the cotton at the seam at the collar wing, double cuffs must be ironed inwards and flat - if you iron these folded you will get a permanent crease in the lining that makes them look extremely ugly. Your Missus/gf/bf/Filipino maid will not thank you for handing these over to be ironed if they are not used to it - a badly ironed one looks dreadful.

I'm far too busy snapping number plates to have time for ironing shirts and the suchlike... Thanks for the sound advice, but the truth is I have no patience for tasks like this, so I would ruin my shirts in minutes if I tried ironing them myself. I've had to iron a couple in my time (due to poor planning), and found the process extremely frustrating and the results truly lamentable. That's why I send them off to be done, and they always come back pristine. Thank goodness the UK still excels in the service industries.
 
I'm with you Charles. My Butler has just read trapperjohn's message to me.

I'm speechless.


I'm spluttering into my first flush Darjeeling now.
 

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