Shirt maker benefits from return to office

THE husband and wife behind the shirt maker Charles Tyrwhitt bagged a windfall of more than £21m last year as a return to offices revived demand for tailoring.

The £21.2m payout for the year to July 2023 to founder Nicholas Wheeler and his wife Chrissie Rucker is the first since 2020, latest accounts show.

Of that, £11.7m was paid out to the couple during the year, with the remaining £9.5m used to offset a loan the shirt maker provided to the pair’s holding company.

The shirt maker is controlled by Mr Wheeler and his wife via their company Bectin. Ms Rucker founded The White Company, which is also owned by Bectin. Sales at the retailer jumped more than 45pc last year to hit £269m, higher than pre-pandemic revenues of £189m.

It comes as demand for shirts rebounds as more companies push for employers to be in the office regularly, following the Covid remote working boom.

Figures from job company Adzuna recently showed that only a fifth of high-paying jobs now allow for flexible working. It has meant that companies specialising in formalwear and tailoring have enjoyed a resurgence. Suit retailer Moss Bros recently said its revenues jumped more than 30pc in its latest financial year.

It was seen as a rebuff to earlier claims that people would no longer be buying formalwear after the pandemic, with M&S having stopped selling suits in many of its stores in 2021. It recently brought suits back into its shops.

Charles Tyrwhitt said its sales were also helped by it expanding the range of things it sells, including more casualwear. It sells casual shirts and shorts alongside its collections of smart shirts and suits.

Much of its revenue growth was driven by online sales, although the company said shoppers are coming back into its stores as they “continued their recovery, post-Covid restrictions”.

The retailer has been expanding into new sites, with 30 stores by the end of last July compared to 25 the previous year.