Cufflinks have been worn for centuries, and when they were first produced they replaced the pieces of string which men had used to tie up the cuffs of their shirts because they had nothing else. That might have been practical, but not exactly something to be admired.
So, in the early 1700’s, men of importance and wealth began to wear small glass “sleeve buttons” which were linked by a small gold or silver chain. Then around 1750 the chains remained, but the glass buttons started to be replaced by decorative buttons made of jewels, usually diamonds. Of course, that also emphasised wealth, because the man in the street could hardly afford diamonds or emeralds or rubies.
This continued after the publication of the novel The Count of Monte Cristo in 1844 in which a character showed massive diamonds on his shirt cuffs to the envy of all who saw them.
However, at the same time the Industrial Revolution arrived and with it came cufflinks which were much cheaper to manufacture, so they quickly became something which men of almost every class wanted to wear. Since those days cufflinks have gone in and out of fashion, especially in the mid – late 20th century when many shirts were manufactured with a single cuff with buttons on them.
Hundreds Of Thousands Of Patterns
But today, cufflinks remain extremely popular, to the extent that there are hundreds of thousands of different patterns produced. If you look online for cufflinks, there are millions of results.
At Wimbledon Cufflink Company, we should know, because it is what we do – manufacture cufflinks in a wide range of different patterns. But we do not make novelty cufflinks as some companies do because we understand that our customers want something that underscores their standing in life. Cufflinks that are elegant, but that stand out for being smart and add to an air of class that a man can display.
Many of our cufflinks pay homage to the history of our countries, such as the Irish Harp Cufflinks. The harp in Ireland dates back to the 13th century and is considered to be a symbol of national pride. Indeed, the harp is to be found on Irish passports.
Our Irish harp cufflinks depict the harp in gold on an azure background, which is a colour associated with St. Patrick. These are cufflinks are worn by Irishmen of standing who are delighted to demonstrate their pride in their heritage.