Overview
Charles Tyrwhitt is an upmarket menswear specialist founded by Nick Wheeler in 1986, initially part-time from his bedroom as a university student. He pursued the venture full-time from 1990, with a first store opened in 1997.
The retailer has just over 30 UK stores with a growing international presence in locations such as New York, Chicago and Washington in the US.
Pivot to casualwear
Having traditionally focused on tailored shirts, it has pivoted its strategy in recent years to offer a range casual clothing as well, adapting to a shift in consumer habits post pandemic.
In April 2024, Wheeler told The Times that “Covid gave us a pretty damn good kick up the ass” and it had to adjust its strategy from “doing one thing really well”, having missed the opportunity from the nineties onwards when ‘dress down Fridays’ had started to come into play.
It revealed that around 50% of its revenue came from shirts in the year to 29 July 2023 (FY2023), where group revenue surged 45.4% to £269.2m.
Ecommerce remains core the business
The retailer prides itself on offering high quality, timeless products, supported by exemplary customer service.
Having started as a mail order business, ecommerce remains the core of the Charles Tyrwhitt business, reported to take 70% of overall sales in FY2023.
The IT function sits at the heart of the Charles Tyrwhitt business and is driving growth plans. Its infrastructure provides full visibility across the business, including international operations.
An overhaul of the core UK Charles Tyrwhitt site went live at the beginning of 2020, which has put an increased focus on the wider menswear offer and includes ‘shop the look’ features.
In 2022, it added its shirt customisation tool on its website, allowing customers to choose from over 70 fabrics, customise collar, cuff, placket and button colour and choose the fit amongst other sizing options.
Stores overhauled
While stores form a key part of the retailer’s multichannel strategy, bricks-and-mortar development had not been the major focus until more recently.
Stores offer one-on-one styling appointments and made-to-measure custom shirt services. The in-store custom shirts service gives consumers a one-to-one with in-store experts for a bespoke shirt design.
The retailer opened a two-storey 4,200 sq ft store on London’s Regent Street in April 2024. The new store – which houses a VIP area as well as a huge wall dedicated to shirts – forms part of wider plans to open an additional 10 stores into 2025.
Chief marketing officer Joe Irons commented: “The Regent Street location really does lend itself well to a whole experience, where people want to enjoy beautiful stores, an unparalleled customer service experience and great products.”
Stores in Cheltenham and Belfast followed in August 2024.
Wheeler has said shoppers need a reason to visit physical Charles Tyrwhitt shops because the brand is so strong online. He said: “Retail needs to have theatre and entertainment, it needs to be fun and interesting and for people to enjoy coming shopping.”
This intensified during the pandemic, with Charles Tyrwhitt stores increasingly being used to showcase its products while a growing proportion of sales take place online.
Wheeler said a core Charles Tyrwhitt value is being fun and quirky but acknowledged that it is important to strike the right balance in the stores. “It’s a fine line between fun and quirky, and stupid. People don’t want to think you’re trying too hard”, he said.
In 2020 some four stores were permanently shuttered, followed by two more in 2021. There were no store openings or closures during the 2022 financial year to 30 July 2022.
Customisation and recycling
Underlining its credentials as a shirt specialist, the retailer offers a plethora of fit, size and customisation options in its bid to offer customers the best possible fit and choice.
Wheeler has said that quality, value and service are crucial to ongoing growth. The retailer puts customer service at the heart of the business model and Wheeler remains very much the ambassador of the brand in this respect.
It was reported that the retailer sells one white button-down shirt every 50 seconds, with 7 million shirts sold in 2023. Its goal is to reach 7.5 million shirts by the end of 2024.
Charles Tyrwhitt also runs a shirt recycling scheme through which customers can bring old shirts and polos to stores, regardless of whether or not they are Charles Tyrwhitt products, and Charles Tyrwhitt will send them on to The British Heart Foundation to be either resold or recycled.
The retailer has also partnered with Ecologi and Planet Mark to measure its carbon footprint and come up with a plan to reduce its carbon emissions and offset the balance, creating a carbon neutral business.
International fostering growth
International development is a key part of Charles Tyrwhitt’s forward strategy for growth. Sales within the region made up 51% of group revenue in FY2023 from 46% the year prior, with sales rising 61.2% to £137.1m.
Wholesaling continues to make an important contribution to sales and means its shirts are sold around the world.
Charles Tyrwhitt is well-placed to take advantage of the popularity of British heritage brands as it looks to further international ecommerce development to drive growth. Even though most of its production now takes place overseas, its reputation for quality design and craftsmanship remains a potential point of difference in a competitive global marketplace.
With a network of over 10 stores in the US and a single outlet store in France, former chief information officer Simon Kerry had previously said the retailer had “no plans” to expand its bricks-and-mortar estate into new territories. Instead, he said the focus would be on adding up to three new countries to its international ecommerce offer.
Kerry added: “Bricks-and-mortar stores are important for us as a channel that our customers use and have a knock-on halo effect for our online platform, but it’s not a growth priority for us”.
In mid-2019, chief executive Luke Kingsnorth said that rather than expanding into new territories the retailer was looking for growth through its existing core markets of US, Australia, Germany and France.
It opened a new store in New York’s Grand Central Terminal in October 2024. The 2,280-square-foot space features two London telephone booths to reflect the retailer’s British heritage, as well as a wall of ties.
Charles Tyrwhitt president of North America, Sam Stanley commented: “The Grand Central store is a great addition to our US retail portfolio, offering an iconic and convenient location for our customer to shop for his modern working wardrobe, whether they live in New York or just passing through.
“Our stylists at each store location are trained to help every man find his tailored fit and stock up on timeless, seasonal items to help him feel and look his best.”
Technology strategy
An overhaul of the core UK Charles Tyrwhitt site went live at the beginning of 2020, which has put an increased focus on the wider menswear offer and includes ‘shop the look’ features.
Around 10 years prior to this, the business had taken measures to replace its outdated bespoke systems. As these had been built up somewhat haphazardly over the years, they were preventing the retailer from scaling up the business.
Under new direction, the IT function went from being an underinvested, undermanaged part of the business, to sitting at the heart of the operation and driving forward growth plans.
It has worked with Microsoft Dynamics for its core business systems, as well as the Demandware platform to facilitate accelerated international development.
Supply chain strategy
The shirt specialist’s mail order heritage means it has a well-established supply chain.
Global distribution to both stores and customers is carried out from the retailer’s distribution centre in Milton Keynes. Milton Keynes is not only home to its UK distribution centre but also its customer services team.
Recently the focus has been on ensuring the business can continue to replenish the expanding store network alongside delivering to direct customers.
This will not be without its challenges. Charles Tyrwhitt’s focus on fit and service means the warehouse has to hold close to 90 SKUs for every fitted shirt the retailer offers.
While the retailer’s shirts were initially manufactured in the UK, that is no longer possible and they are now sourced from around the world, including such far flung places such as India, Peru and Romania.
