Ben Sherman

THE MAN
Ben Sherman was a legend in his own right. A man described as ‘always embracing the new and the different’; someone constantly searching for the best of things. He disliked regularity, preferring to search out things that were perceived as unavailable to him. He was a passionate businessman with an artist’s soul.

Born Arthur Benjamin Sugarman in Brighton in 1925, at just 20 years old Arthur left a post-war torn Britain for America where he saw a land of hope and promise; he was full of drive and ambition.

He raised a family in the San Fernando Valley and began working for his father-in-law who owned a successful clothing manufacturing company. It was also while in America when applying for citizenship, Arthur decided to change his name. Ben is what his family called him and Sherman was a surname that he felt was a good, solid, strong American name.

Unfortunately his mother who lived back in England became very ill, so he quit his job and relocated the family back home to Brighton. Without a job, Ben Sherman decided to use his clothing manufacturing experience and rented a factory in Bedford square, Brighton.

THE IDEA
Ben started making shirts for other people. But soon his creative flair took over and he started designing his own shirts. Then in 1963 he was ready to launch the first Ben Sherman shirt.

THE SHIRT
Its basic design was influenced by the classic American Ivy League shirt but Ben’s design vision added the back hook, the button on the back of the collar, but most importantly his feel and passion for fabric, pattern and colour created a unique garment.

Colour was something that particularly intrigued Ben, so he used Oxford fabric in pale shades, pale pink, yellow and blue. He used candy stripes, again, using pale pinks, greens and blues. Peoples’ initial reaction to all this colour was not positive, but typically Ben Sherman pushed ahead as he totally believed in his ideas.

He wanted the best quality fabrics, so the special fabrics used were all from America. He also decided to box each shirt individually, which was, in those days against the grain.

THE BRAND
The shirts were a huge success, offering something brand new and previously unseen in England.

Interestingly it was exactly at this time that the first British youth culture was in full flow; the post war teddy boys. This movement had shown a new generation of youth that clothing could be a key indicator of their beliefs and signal their belonging to a culture or movement.

A second wave of young men came along who loved the sharp Italian style and this group went by the name of ‘ the modernists’ who quickly became known as ‘mods’. This British youth culture embraced the Ben Sherman shirt, loving it for its quality, slim-fitting style, its colour and unique design.

The feeling was that there simply had never been anything on the English scene like it. The Ben Sherman shirt was revolutionary and so was the ‘mod movement’. Through fashion and music, London and Britain were cool again, the swinging 60’s was in full flow and the atmosphere was euphoric.

Ben Sherman opened a showroom on Carnaby street and soon afterwards opened 2 stores in London as well as a store in Brighton (his Brighton store was called ‘millions of shirts inc. ltd) Ben Sherman could not produce shirts fast enough and orders often exceeded production capacity. It is famously quoted that in 1970 Ben Sherman ordered a million yards of oxford cloth, a quarter of a million of gingham fabric and a quarter of a million yards of colourful striped material from his American fabric mill. This is testament to the popularity of the Ben Sherman shirt.

THE LEGACY
Now having existed for 5 decades the Ben Sherman shirt and brand have been adopted by almost every youth culture or style movement of the last 5 decades, from the mods , to 2 tone and ska, to brit pop and is today still worn by the current bands and style leaders of the current decade.

Ben Sherman remained at the helm of the Ben Sherman shirt brand until the mid 70’s when bad health meant he sold the company and retired to Australia when in 1987 and at the age of 62 Ben Sherman died.

Ben Sherman not only created clothing history with his Ben Sherman shirt, but he created a way of thinking that has helped create a global brand today. His passion for original thinking and rejecting the normal and mundane has left a legacy that can still be witnessed today.

The Ben Sherman shirt is an icon and there is simply nothing quite like an original Ben Sherman shirt.

Connect With Us:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenShermanAU
Instagram: @BenShermanAU
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/BenShermanAU

In 1963, Ben Sherman returned from America to the UK with the idea of making a button-down shirt. Having noticed the style adopted by polo players of the time who used the button-downs to keep their shirt collars where they should be whilst riding, he set about creating his own. Taking inspiration from his Fathers work as a tailor, he created an icon and this practical, yet stylish garment was soon adopted by a set of style leaders back in England and has continued to be the lifestyle brand for many of the significant cultural movements over the past five decades.

Ben Sherman now presents a full lifestyle offering, available in over 40 countries worldwide and continues to embrace a heritage of modernism. Over the past two years we have re-positioned ourselves within the marketplace through the launch of new product segmentations, a new retail concept and the launch of our E-commerce website. These are just some of the changes that make working for Ben Sherman both challenging and rewarding, and we’ve only just begun…

Products
A global lifestyle brand offering products that include menswear, footwear, suits and accessories

SHIPPING POLICY

Delivery of your order is done with great care at Ben Sherman.

For your convenience, we will deliver via AustPost eParcel anywhere within Australia. More importantly, the delivery cost of your product/s is free (unless stipulated otherwise). Please note we cannot ship goods to an address outside Australia.

Upon completion of your purchase, our team will organise for your product to be dispatched as a priority. We will notify you when your product is posted and provide you with the tracking details.

Ben Sherman will make every effort to deliver products within 5 to 10 working days to the address specified by you during the purchase process. During peak times and sale periods, please allow an extra 2 to 3 days for your delivery.

If you are not home when the product/s are delivered, Australia Post will leave a card at the address advising you that an attempt has been made to deliver your product, and of the local post office you can collect it from.

Ben Sherman is committed to providing exceptional customer service and quality products. We will endeavour to make sure that all products listed on our website are currently in stock and pricing is true and correct. In the unlikely event that an ordered item isn’t available or we are unable to fulfill your order, we will notify you within 2 business days to arrange a backorder or a full refund.

Christmas Delivery

The dates below are a guide to allow for delivery before Christmas. During peak times and sale periods, shipping times may vary but every effort will be made to deliver your products on time.

For delivery to REGIONAL AND RURAL areas, orders can be placed up until 11:59 PM, 12th December 2016.

For delivery to Perth and Adelaide METRO, orders can be placed until 11:59pm Tuesday 13th December 2016.

For all delivery to all other METRO areas, orders can be placed up until 11:59pm, Friday 16th December 2016.
Australia Post cutoff date for the following areas has passed, Ben Sherman cannot guarantee delivery in time for Christmas to:

Pilbara, WA
Alice Springs, NT
Kimberley, WA
Cairns, QLD
All other NT areas
Remote Tasmania

CONTACT US
If you have any questions about delivery, please contact us via our Contact Form or 1-800-BENSHERMAN (1800 236 743) or shop@bensherman.com.au.

RETURN POLICY

OUR PROMISE TO YOU
We guarantee our products to be free of manufacturing defects and will accept any defective item for refund or exchange.

From time to time, you may purchase an item that doesn’t quite fit right. To make life easy, we will provide an exchange on any item that is returned in its original condition.

OUR 60 DAY RETURNS POLICY
All items can be returned within 60 days of purchase for a refund.

In order to take advantage of this, you can return the items with proof of purchase to your closest Ben Sherman retail store where they will look after you, or you can

(a) contact us to speak to our team to arrange a Return Authorisation Number to be sent to you;
(b) complete, sign and date the returns form and return the products to us; and
(c) return the product to us in the same condition as received and if possible with all packaging.

Once we have received the returned goods, we will email you to inform you of this, and inspect the goods within two business days. If we consider any returned product to have been used/worn/washed or tags or labels are missing or removed, we may reject the return and not give a refund.

You should obtain and keep proof of postage in case you need it as evidence that you have returned the product to us as the returned products are your responsibility until they arrive at our warehouse.

EXCHANGES
Ben Sherman is unable to offer exchanges via our online store. If an exchange is required, please visit your nearest Ben Sherman concept retail store. We are unable to accept exchanges into Outlet stores. Alternatively, return your item for a refund and place a new order for the correct size and/or colour.

REFUNDS
We will issue a refund for the price you paid for the products within 10 working days of the date we receive the returned item(s). All products must be in an undamaged, unworn condition with all labels and product swing tags attached for you to be able to return them. If the returned goods do not meet the criteria, a refund will be declined and we will return the products to you.

** Please note there is no refund or exchange available on Ben Sherman underwear.

If you have misplaced your returns slip, please use our Returns Form.

DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS
If you think a product is defective, please contact us using our Return Form and our team will assist you with organising to return the product. After examining the product, we will confirm by email that it is defective. We will either issue a refund for the price you paid for the product or, if you wish, provide a replacement. In order to take advantage of our defective returns policy, you must either take it into your closet Ben Sherman retail store with proof of purchase, or

(a) contact us to speak to our team to arrange a Return Authorisation Number to be sent to you;
(b) complete, sign and date the returns form included with our original delivery (giving a short description of the defect); and
(c) return the product to us in the same condition as received and if possible with all packaging.

You should obtain and keep proof of postage in case you need it as evidence that you have returned the product to us as the returned products are your responsibility until they arrive at our warehouse. Where possible, please use or include with the product being returned, all original packaging and tags/labels.