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Spirit of Jermyn Street
We’ve been noticing some fairly sizeable shifts in the shopping habits of both our UK and US customers of late. One side of the pond seems to be taking an increasingly relaxed approach to dressing for work, while the other side appears to be going the other way. It got us to wondering who are the current standard bearers for Jermyn Street Style?
We sent a survey to over 10,000 UK and US customers find out. We thought you might be interested in the results, and so here is a snippet of what we found.
When asked what was the most important factor in deciding what to wear for work, the most popular response in the US was looking professional, while UK respondents took a slightly more louche approach, being more interested in how stylish something makes them look. This is backed up all the way through the data…
US customers by far prefer a wrinkle free / non iron shirt to those in the UK, with two thirds of respondents choosing this, compared to half UK. Furthermore, getting the right cut is the number one consideration when choosing a shirt for US shoppers, while in the UK, it’s colour.
Over half of the US panel state a preference for double cuffs, almost 50% more than in the UK. Even pocket squares are more popular amongst US customers, with UK shoppers seeing them more as strictly for weddings or black tie events.
The apparent shift towards a more relaxed style in the UK seems a recent thing. While only two of every five UK respondents wear a tie to work, far fewer than in the US, of those who don’t wear a tie 45% state they have only stopped wearing a tie in the last 12 months. While slipping in the sharpness stakes, the Brits redeem themselves by being most likely to buy on impulse whenever they see something they like, while more commercially minded US responders were most likely to be tipped by a good deal.
Refreshingly, both are equally dismissive of the notion of Style Icons, with fewer than one in ten taking inspiration from them. Of those that were mentioned though, there was a very English theme. In the UK, Paul Weller and David Beckham shared top spot, with Prince Charles getting an honourable mention. The US respondents looked to James Bond (and Daniel Craig), Beckham again, and Bristolian Cary Grant.
For both sets of responders though, by far the most popular source of sartorial advice and inspiration comes from friends and family (almost 40%). However, through either confidence or stubbornness (we didn’t ask), UK shoppers are 30% more disinterested than their US counterparts in what anyone else thinks they should wear.
We at CT have found the results were quite surprising, not least the lack of mentions for David Niven in the icons section, but for now will remain firmly on the fence and declare the result a draw.
What we will say though is that we encourage more men to slip a tie on more often. It wasn’t that long ago that no man ventured outside without a hat. That, alas, is now is largely the domain of hipsters and buskers, and ties must not share the same fate. A smart tie is generally more attractive than a V of chest hair, and comes in more varieties. We attach a Free Tie offer to elicit your support.