Remarkably enough, no one alive knows the origins of the Sunspel name. At least as far as we know. But we have a theory.
It all begins with one of the team here pondering and puzzling over that beautiful logo from the 30s, shown above. Why the sun showing above the clouds?
Then, as in every good detective story, a clue turns up. The clue’s been there all along, as it happens, but it needs someone to look at it in a different way.
Here’s the clue:
It’s hard to read, but this is the stamp of the West Indies Sea Island Cotton Association, and at one time it appeared on all Sunspel underwear as a mark of authentication, guaranteeing that the underwear was made from Sea Island cotton.
Why Sea Island cotton? Because this was one name for a particular type of cotton plant, Gossypium barbadense, which has an extra long staple, or fibre length. The longer the fibres, the smoother the thread that can be derived from twisting the fibres together. It’s why we use long staple cotton from the same plant in, for example, our very fine t-shirt fabrics.
At one time Sea Island cotton, grown on the islands off the southern United States, was the finest in the world – a guarantee of quality. Now the name is unregulated and can be used for any old cotton. (Supima or Pima cotton is a regulated name, and is a genuine mark of quality long staple cotton today – we use it for just that reason.)
Anyway, Sunspel clothes were made from Sea Island cotton and bore the stamp of the West Indian Sea Island Cotton Association. And one day, so our theory goes, someone in the business – then called Thomas A Hill – had a brainwave and decided to come up with a cooler and jazzier name, a name more suitable for the modern age.
The stamp was their inspiration. They lighted upon a phrase associated with the sun emerging from behind clouds: ‘Sunny spells’.
But when they tried to register the phrase as a trademark they came up against restrictions on trademarking common words. So they thought again, shortened it, butchered the spelling, and came up with… Sunspel.
It’s our theory and we like it.
The Sea Island cotton stamp, though, does show pretty conclusively that the Sunspel name derives from the association between the company’s products and high quality cotton. It’s something we still stand by today. Quality cotton makes all the difference.