Fred Perry, full name Frederick John Perry was born on the 18 May 1909 and lived to the age of 86. He was the number 1 tennis player in world for 5 years, won Wimbledon 3 times, and the US Grand slam 8 times!
After all that he then went on to create one of the most iconic fashion brands of all time. In the 1940s Fred Perry met up with Tibby Wegner a footballer from Austria. These two started to work on different clothing ideas, the first being the wrist sweatband.
The next product they released was the Polo Shirt, which is still the main product of the company today. Originally only available in white the first shirt was launched at Wimbledon in 1952. The Fred Perry Polo Shirt, also known as the Fred Perry Tennis shirt is easily recognizable by the crest logo with appears on the left side. This logo, know as the Laurel is based on the old Wimbledon logo, a reflection of the founders sporting pedigree, and instead of being ironed or printed on was actually stitched into the fabric of the shirt. The initial logo was thought to be a pipe, something Fred enjoyed smoking, however he was talked out of it by Wegner as “it might not be a hit with the girls”.
To get momentum going for the new clothing brand shirts and other items were given to all the leading Tennis players at the time you happily accepted them as replacements for the ill fitting, uncomfortable garments they were used to.
In the 1950s the mods got into the brand and quickly requested that the Polo Shirts be available in many more colors. The company quickly responded and the Polo Shirts are now available in a full range of colors including Black, Blue, Pink, Green and Navy. In the 1960s and 70s everyone was getting into the instantly recognizable look, from skinhead to the soul scene.
The brand although no longer British and owned by a Japanese company still goes from strength to strength. It’s rare that a brand of clothing lasts for more than 60 years and is still seen as the must have brand by so many different groups of people. In the Fred Perry’s own words this shirt “always looks right” and “gains a silent no of approval anywhere in the world”
