Suspender belief... here's the must-have accessory for men

Order of the garter: Joshi Herrman pulls up his socks
Emine Sinmaz12 April 2012

Suspenders for men are being hailed as "the latest saviour for the modern gentleman" - by the man who invented them in his bedroom.

The Shirt Companion keeps men's shirts securely tucked into their trousers and their socks pulled up.

Johan Ekelund, a 29-year-old bartender who started the Sharp & Dapper business, made his first pair in his bedroom. He and business partner Durham Atkinson have sold 1,000 sets.

Restaurant and club Quo Vadis in Soho now has its staff wearing the suspenders.

Owner Sam Hart said: "Our bar team, being the dandies that they are, have incorporated the shirt companion into their uniform. It does work very well in situations where you have to look smart but are quite active, keeping the shirt from un-tucking itself."

The entrepreneurs' invention was handed out during London Cocktail Week which ends on Sunday and they have also been asked to model the suspenders at its events. "It makes you look and feel immaculate. You have to try it to experience how great it is," said Mr Ekelund.

"The only hurdle we have is getting people to try them, but once they have they can't live without them."

Mr Ekelund said he spotted something similar on the internet and ordered a pair only to find nowhere in Britain stocks them so bought a sewing machine and started making them.

"I made about 100 sets and started selling them to colleagues and friends and they absolutely loved them," he said. The suspender sets cost £14.99 including postage.

The shirt companion is not only for people in the hospitality industry, said Mr Ekelund. "It's perfect for people who work in the City, those people who want to look professional and smart for work. I went to Canary Wharf to do some research and 99 per cent of men look really good but their shirts ride up and they end up looking scruffy."

Pointless, even in this style climate

According to its website, the Shirt Companion will help you leave a good impression "in today's style climate".

I'm not sure what a style climate is, but I'm fairly confident that I'm not in one, and that were I to find myself in a style climate, one of the last things I would want to be worrying about would be that a piece of elastic underneath my trousers was about to cannon disastrously loose.

The Companion isn't offensively uncomfortable, but the five minutes it takes to strap oneself up are made particularly galling by the fact that these multi-function garters are pointless. "Tuck in your shirt, boy" is surely an instruction most people internalise by the time they've left school. And I suspect the small number who continue to resist are probably not the types who will pay £15.

The developers, who assure me that "Jude Law has a set", decided to start making them while working as bartenders "constantly shaking cocktails and travelling up and down stairs".

So if I'm ever shaking cocktails and travelling up and down stairs, and doing so in a style climate, I will reach for my Shirt Companions.

Until then, they'll have to pass for suspenders in the Carry On film I'm making about the Ministry of Defence.

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