The wartime history of Wakefield heritage shirtmaker Double Two as it launches cool print shirts for men of all sizes

“One of the things I've noticed since working here is that you realise, if you look around, that there are so many men that wear shirts, many more than you think,” says Noreen Allen, head of marketing for Double Two’s parent, Wakefield Shirt Company.

At the brand’s HQ at Thornes Lane Wharf in the city, Noreen, who joined the company a year ago, is sitting alongside Judith Waring, group designer, who has been with WSC for nearly 30 years. Both, coincidentally, are from Derry, also famous for shirt making.

“Blues always sell for men,” says Judith. Double Two sells a range of menswear including tees and polos, chinos and knits, but it is its shirting that has made its name. It makes a range from formal and workwear through to casual, country styles and overshirts. These are shirts for every man, from a 15in collar to a 23in. “On the High Street, you go up to about 20,” says Noreen. “Our lifestyle-casual elements go up to a 5XL, which also gives us a bit of a competitive edge, and there's a different type of audience as well. So we're quite proud of that.”

The biggest seller is still the traditional white shirt, with pinks and blues also strong, in cotton and in polycotton. Judith says: “We put an easycare finish on the fabric, which helps with the ironing. The polyester cotton is very much an office shirt. It's your workhorse.”

“Our seasonal stuff is always 100 per cent cotton, although we do work from time to time with a bamboo blend,” she adds. “We are designing every six to eight weeks.” This is to bring in the newness that the modern man demands for his wardrobe.

Double Two is woven into the history of Wakefield, and its story is told in the exhibition Seeing Double: The story of Double Two shirts, which runs at Wakefield Museum until May 24.

It was in April 1940 that the Yorkshire Post announced work opportunities for “200 women at the new Wakefield Factory''.

Isaak Donner and Frank Myers had founded the Wakefield Shirt Company that year in a fourth-floor corner room of a building on Kirkgate. The previous year Isaak Donner had been forced to leave his shirt business behind in Vienna.

At first they made men’s shirts, but with cotton in short supply, they made blouses, using viscose rayon, for Britain’s army of female factory workers.

By 1946, the Wakefield Shirt Company had taken over the building. Men returning from the war were now used to non-attached collars they could change and so Isaak Donner introduced his patented shirt with a collar that could be removed and replaced with a second collar. They were called Double Two shirts and became so famous around the world that the company also became known by this name.

In the 1950s Isaak Donner worked with the inventor of polyester fibre, ICI’s Dr Rex Winfield, to create the first manmade shirt, which was long lasting, easily washed and did not need ironing. It is one of several shirts lent to the exhibition from Double Two’s archive. Its success allowed the acquisition of a large mill in south Wakefield

In 1968 the company acquired workwear manufacturers Wm Sugden & Sons of Barnsley. Today, Double Two is a third-generation family business run by Isaak Donner’s son, Richard, and his grandson, John. Most production moved to the Far East in the 1990s but around 60 people are still employed in Wakefield, where consumer-focused Double Two Shirts is based alongside Sugdens, which makes uniforms for businesses and services, including fire, ambulance and police. There are teams for sales and marketing, design, production planning and finance, plus warehousing, and a factory that makes “special measures” Sugdens workwear for people outside the standard size ranges.

The pandemic brought new challenges and opportunities. Judith says: “Because we had the workwear side to the business, we were actually able to keep open the whole way through. The online presence became even more important in that time, which we'd had, but certainly not to the level that we've got now.”

Much manufacturing is in Bangladesh, where Double Two carries out ongoing factory inspections. “It’s an essential part of what we do,” Judith says.

As well as online, Double Two shirts are sold via its own stores - it has a Factory Shop at the Wakefield site and a shop at Junction 32 at Castleford - plus concessions at Boundary Mill stores, Leading Label stores and a variety of other concessions, and is stocked at independent retailers. “Which are still needed,” says Judith.

The replaceable collars no longer exist, as the shirts no longer wear out, and most people don’t have the time to sew these days.

The current season has some great designs, including bright prints in cotton. “The prints are always a favourite,” says Judith. “Seaside ones are always good ones for people to wear on holidays. There's lots of smaller geometrics and we've got some really nice bright summer checks and stripes.”

Price point is important in a tough market, and these sell about around £40, with £15 for two mix and match, plus there is a clearance action for bargains.

This year, the company turns 85 and there is a small range of three retro-style shirts coming out to mark the occasion. In the 1970s Double Two had a shirt called That Shirt, aimed at the younger market, and the name will be resurrected along with new branding.

Meanwhile, there is just a little bit of ironing to do to prepare for the model shoot for the new range, as seen here on these pages.

Doubletwo.co.uk. Seeing Double: The story of Double Two shirts is at Wakefield Museum until May 24.