About Haines & Bonner Shirts

In 1865 the Snowdon Collar Works were established in Chard, Somerset, England. Chard was in the centre of the lace and sewing trades at that time with a plentiful supply of skilled labour. It first produced the stiff collars worn by gentlemen of the time. When fashions changed the factory became shirt makers for the same London clients.

Ken Haines and David Bonner, a bespoke shirt maker and entrepreneur respectively, established a joint venture retailing the finest handmade mens shirts on Londons famous Jermyn Street - the home of exclusive quality shirts.

Through dedicated management, the Brand has been brought back to life. It still offers the founders priority values of innovative designs, quality and service.

HAINES & BONNER Shirts has the heritage and pedigree that makes it almost unique in the history of British Shirtmaking. This sets it apart from many of its retail and mail order competitors, who cannot boast of having inherited all the manufacturing skills handed down over generations.

The business was acquired by Simon Crowther at the end of the last century. He has introduced his innovative designs and management skills to bring HAINES & BONNER shirts to the forefront of the trade again.

The latest designs of high quality fabric from Italy, Portugal, Austria and Germany are used to produce a range of shirts in 2-fold and 1/50s pure cotton. Non-iron cotton shirts are also proving very popular with todays very busy businessman.

The Present

A range of complementary ties and cufflinks are also offered, again made from the finest of materials.

Products: Mens Shirts, Ladies Shirts, Ties, Cufflinks

Our shirts have been made for over a hundred years using traditional techniques and we continue today to use the same methods and skills. None of our competitors can boast the heritage we have.

Our shirts are skilfully tailored using the finest pure two-fold cotton, as used by world class shirtmakers, for its silk feel. Our attention to detail is obsessive - from the single needle stitching and four piece split yokes to the two-piece interlined collar and lock-stitched buttons. In fact, you will find all the features you would expect in a luxury shirt, except for one - the surprisingly keen price.

The same passion with design and quality also goes into our collection of ties, which are made up of using only the finest quality Italian silks.

We hope you will find a shirt to suit your taste - with a wide range of fabrics, a dozen size combinations, choice of double or single cuffs, you can be sure of a shirt tailored exactly to your needs.

Thank you for your interest in HAINES AND BONNER shirts and we hope that we can be of service to you.

Below is a range of products we offer, please click for more information:

The Shirt Connoisseur

Fabric and Yarn Types:

Poplin:
The "Stock in Trade" of the classic shirtmaker describes a plain weave that tends to give the surface colours prominence making it excellent for the shadow checks, stripes and the end on ends.

End on End:
A weave whereby the warp yarn is one colour and the weft another. When white is mixed with another colour the effect is of a subtle plain colour, when two colours are mixed a strong vibrant plain colour is produced.

Oxford:
A plain weave using a somewhat heavier yarn. Mainly used in the making of casual shirts.

Pin Point:
A lighter weight oxford suitable for both business and casualwear.

Two Fold:
Mainly relates to poplin whereby two yarns are twisted together. As a piece of string can be broken but two pieces platted cannot. This principle allows the yarn to be spun much more finely coupling quality with its strength.

Making details:

Two piece Collar:
Our collars are made with the top cut off and band cut seperately. When they are cut, both are cut with the joining edge elliptical thus when sewn together this produces a "spring" which gives the collar a tendency both to turn and stay down. This cannot be achieved with a one piece collar.

Split Yoke:
The yoke across the shoulders of our shirts is constructed in two distinct halves allowing for them to come together at an angle thus replicating the sloping nature of mens shoulders. This is normally not necessary on ladies shirts as the construction and fit are completely different.

Gusset:
All of our mens shirts are made with a small "Butterfly" Gusset in the tail. This is a small but very strong gusset as opposed to the simple piece of fabric used in some cases. In addition to adding strength, it also contours the back of the tail of the shirt.

Single Needle Stitching:
Our Mens shirts are sewn throughout using a single needle sewing machine not dissimilar to the one which you would use at home. This is the traditional way in Jermyn Street but is a costly way of doing things. It produces very fine strong seams.

Gauntlet:
Our mens shirts featured an over and under gauntlet. These are two pieces of fabric of the sleeve opening above the cuff. These keep the sleeve together in wear and prevent "gaping" thus doing away with the need to have a "button in gaunlet" which is often used to keep the sleeve closed when the gauntlets have been dispensed with.

Matching:
A unique and very special feature of high quality shirts is where the designs of the fabric are matched exactly at all points where different parts of the shirt meet. For example over and under the collar, over and under the cuffs, the sleeve head, the fronts and the gauntlet.