Item 2017.138.1 - Irvine Sellars Cotton Velvet Suit - Jacket

Irvine Sellar (1934–2017) left school at the age of sixteen to take over the running of his father’s glove shop in St Albans. He began selling clothing on market stalls outside London in about 1957 and later relocated to Petticoat Lane in London’s East End. His first store opened in St Albans, followed by another in Wood Green and a third on Wardour Street in Soho, all of which sold mid-priced post–Teddy Boy clothing. In the early 1960s, Sellar and his wife Elizabeth spotted the potential of Carnaby Street, where they converted a greengrocer’s and a laundry into Irvine Sellars Menswear. The basement of number 27 was used for womenswear. After struggling to get clothing manufacturers to produce his designs, he began producing them himself; in 1969, his company produced 70 per cent of the menswear he sold. By 1969, Irvine Sellars had established a chain of twenty-four boutiques, including Mates by Irvine Sellars, which claimed to be the first chain store to offer men’s and women’s clothing under one roof, and a blueprint for modern retailing. Mates had grown to ninety stores by 1981, at which point Sellar sold the company to a South African investment group. However, by 1982 the chain had gone into receivership.
Sources: Property Week; The Express; The Independent.