Al Murray's WWII clothing firm puts 200 shirts on sale at £249
AVRE Industries, co-founded by the comedian Al Murray and the historian James Holland, has released a copy of a US Navy deck shirt. It says it has donated over £2,000 to veteran charities since 2024.
AVRE Industries has put a reconstruction of a Second World War US Navy deck shirt on sale at £249.
The company was co-founded by Al Murray, the comedian and Oxford modern history graduate, and James Holland, the historian and broadcaster. Both are listed as founders in the company's own materials.
The garment is called the US Navy Denim Shawl Collar Shirt. AVRE says it is based on shirts worn by sailors during Operation Hailstone, including aboard the USS Intrepid.
It is made in the UK from 13.75 oz American selvedge denim, in a batch of 200 units that the company says it will not repeat.
AVRE's method, as it describes it, is to take genuine WWII garments apart to make patterns, then rebuild the piece using modern tooling and specialist fabrics.
Ten per cent of profits go to veteran charities. The company says that has amounted to more than £2,000 since it launched in 2024.
The rest of the numbers are modest and the company does not pretend otherwise. Three batches of 200 units have been released to date, all of which AVRE says sold out.
Its customer base is given as 10,000 people, with 20 per cent buying more than once. AVRE says it is not built for rapid scale.
The company also names Jamie Oliver, James May and Charley Boorman as customers, and says it is working on a collaboration with Jeremy Clarkson's Hawkstone. None of that is independently confirmed.
The press kit ties the launch to incoming UK and EU rules on environmental claims, which it says take effect in mid-2026 and will require hard data behind eco-friendly labels. AVRE argues that small-batch UK production and garment longevity give it the evidence those rules will ask for.
That is the founder-relevant part. Firms selling durability as a virtue are about to be asked to show their working, and a claim that rests on "built to last" is easier to defend with batch sizes, materials and repeat-purchase rates than with adjectives.
AVRE's target buyer is stated as aged 35 to 65, buying fewer items and caring about provenance. Three sold-out runs of 200 is a small sample, but it is a number, which is more than most heritage brands offer.
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