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December 2023 - Issue 26 (First published Cover story Summer 2016)
Shirtmaker to the stars
Emma Willis, bespoke Jermyn Street shirtmaker, started her career selling men’s shirts to London traders. She went on to set up her own business and has since become a prominent name in an otherwise male-dominated industry. Now she sells luxury shirts all over the world and has made clothing for celebrities and royalty; in 2014 she was awarded an MBE for her services to entrepreneurship.
She has provided bespoke clothing to many celebrity clients. Here are some famous names you might just recognise!
Daniel Craig, Luke Evans, Colin Firth, David Gandy, Nick Hewer, Chris O’Dowd, Dermot O’Leary and Gok Wan.
Talks to us about fearlessness in adversity, her hopes for the British clothing industry, and the continuing efforts of her charity, Style for Soldiers.
By Janet Kirlew
Emma Willis’ most fearless moment happened live on TV in New York. She was waiting to be interviewed by anchorman Erik Schatzker, who was about to come into the studio wearing one of her bespoke fitted shirts and talk to her about her men’s clothing business. But there was a problem: the shirt designed especially for Erik had not arrived from her factory in time and she had to rush out and buy one of her ready-to-wear shirts from Saks instead. “This would have been the most public bad fitting to the largest international male market I could have achieved,” says Emma as she recalled the nerve-racking moment.
But Emma kept her cool and fortunately the stand-in shirt fitted Erik perfectly. The close call inspired Emma to open a second factory, which she is still using today for her hugely successful Jermyn Street shirt-making enterprise. Her near disaster live on TV turned out to be a blessing in disguise: “As so often happens, a low moment forces one into a brave move.”
Emma, who lists Kate Bush and Mother Teresa among the women who inspire her, began her journey towards becoming a successful shirtmaker after she left the Slade School of Fine Art. She worked at a men’s clothing company that sold, among other things, men’s
shirts. Emma decided to focus her attention on the shirts and took an unusual approach to selling them. “As it was booming times in the city, I made appointments with city firms to sell by appointment only, often before the markets opened, by wandering around the trading floors!”
This experience inspired Emma to go it alone and in 1989 she set up her own business. “My first two customers were Richard Corfield, now my husband, and Bill Tyne, now my business partner!” When she started out, Emma was using a shirtmaker in New Cross, which she was later able to take over. Now, more than twenty years later, Emma supplies high-quality handmade shirts and other items of men’s clothing all over the world, and she has made shirts for celebrities and royalty alike.
Emma’s shop is located on Jermyn Street, an iconic area of St James, London known for selling quality men’s apparel. In its heyday Jermyn Street, and Britain, had a thriving shirt-making industry, but in recent decades the draw of mass production abroad has resulted in there being fewer and fewer British-made clothing companies left, and even some of the shops on Jermyn Street have moved their manufacturing overseas. Emma would love to see this change.
“I would like to see all the big, successful Jermyn Street shirtmakers making in the UK again,” she says. “This would create hundreds of jobs and bring Jermyn Street back to the reputation it once had of incomparable quality and authentic British-made men’s clothing.”
That dream might not be too far off reality thanks to the current climate in the male fashion industry. Emma has noticed that many young men are becoming increasingly interested in fitness and smart dressing, and so they are often looking for quality clothing that really flatters their shape. Not only is there this aspirational tendency towards bespoke clothing in the industry, “there is a genuine craze for clothes made here in the UK and made well.”
With interest in bespoke clothing set to rise, it looks like Emma’s days could get even busier, but that will be no mean feat. Emma currently splits her working week between her shop in London and her factory in Gloucester, which is housed in a beautiful eighteenth-century townhouse. When asked what an average working day involves, she said “I get on the Tube, working on my phone all the time I can, and spend the day catching up with Jade and Tori, who run the shop, seeing customers, checking stock, etc. On Mondays and Tuesdays I go to my factory and spend the day on design, production, wholesale and e-commerce with my assistant, Kristal Jones, and the cutting and sewing team.”
And Emma’s impressive work ethic doesn’t end there. She also runs Style for Soldiers, a charity which shows gratitude for the UK’s armed forces by tailoring bespoke shirts and walking sticks for injured soldiers.
“I started Style for Soldiers in 2008 having heard a programme on Radio 4 inside Headley Court, the military rehabilitation hospital,” Emma told us. “It was so moving to hear the young men and women who had suffered such life-changing injuries, but they expressed no self-pity, just a deep fear of having to leave the Forces, their career, identity, income, friends and purpose.”
The charity, in partnership with menswear specialists Mr. Porter, also aims to provide soldiers with suits and shoes which they can wear to job interviews for their new careers. Style for Soldiers also organises reunion parties to help returning soldiers and their families stay connected, and many companies, including Marks and Spencer, Huntsman Savile Row and The London Sock Company, have contributed clothing and vouchers to the cause. Emma, who has been visiting Headley Court every two months since she started the charity, is filled with hope for the future: “I intend to continue providing smart clothing for transitioning into civilian life with as much confidence and self-esteem as possible.”
Are you wondering how she does it all? When asked about the things in her life that keep her on track, she said “I cannot live without exercise.” When in London she wakes up at 7am every morning for a forty-minute run. Emma loves the sun and the sea, and she told us that her assistant, Kristal, is her most valuable resource in business. “She is my right-hand woman,” says Emma.
“She has almost single-handedly developed our e-commerce and wholesale since she left university.”
It is determination, both in Emma’s working life and outside it, which has driven her success. When asked what her secret is, she said, “I think just sticking with it, loving the constant challenge and always aiming as high as I can on quality.”
We wish you continued success Emma.
Supermodel David Gandy wearing Emma Willis
Photographer | Andy Barnham
Shaun Stocker (left), Emma Willis (middle) and David Gandy (right)
at a Style for Soldier Fundraising event
More from this issue ...
Actress Naomie Harris and Emilia Clarke are supporting brain injury charities Style For Stroke, Same You and InterAct Stroke Support by wearing ‘Jumpers For Joy!’
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