Thomas Pink was LVMH's British shirtmaker — then LVMH quietly walked away

Thomas Pink was founded in 1984 by three Irish brothers — James, Peter, and John Mullen — who opened a shirt shop on London's Jermyn Street. The brand became famous for its colourful shirts and quickly grew into the most successful Jermyn Street shirtmaker of its generation, with stores across the UK and US.

In 1999, LVMH acquired Thomas Pink for an undisclosed sum, betting that the British shirt brand could become a global luxury label. For two decades, LVMH expanded the chain, opening stores in airports, department store concessions, and high streets. But by 2018, Thomas Pink was losing £23.5 million a year — the casualisation of office dress had eroded its core market.

In December 2020, Thomas Pink closed all its stores, its website, and its social media. In February 2021, LVMH sold the brand and intellectual property to Nick Preston for an undisclosed sum — widely reported as a fraction of what LVMH had paid. The brand resumed trading online later that year, but the chain of physical stores was gone. Another LVMH British experiment had failed.