Cufflinks Have Been Worn For Hundreds Of Years

Cufflinks in men’s fashion go back a very long way indeed. They first appeared before Shakespeare was born, in the early 1500’s, in France, in the form of strings that tied men’s loose-fitting shirtsleeves together at the wrists. Shortly after this, in the reign of Louis XIV, they developed into boutons de manchette, or sleeve buttons, which were coloured glass baubles held together by a short chain. By the time of Louis’ death in 1715 they had refined into the recognisable sorts of designs and patterns that we see today, consisting of studs, and often diamonds, held together by silver or gold links.

During the time of the Industrial Revolution, it became possible to mass produce cufflinks and soon they were worn by everybody rather than just being confined to the wealthy who could afford expensive gems. Since that time, the wearing of cufflinks has had its’ highs and lows, especially towards the end of the 20th century when shirt manufacturers were mass-producing shirts with buttoned cuffs.

However, today, there is something of a bounce back as men realise that the wearing of cufflinks makes them stand out as individuals and gain the respect of others. The wearing of cufflinks that are stylish turns a man into a discerning gentleman.

Certainly, there are thousands upon thousands of different patterns of cufflinks, as a quick search online will show you. Many of these cufflinks are designed to show a man’s interests, such as a cricket bat, tennis ball, small fish, guitar plectrum, sailing ship, and so on. Others are a way of making some sort of joke such as a pair of skulls, dinosaurs, boxing gloves, and even – believe it or not – a pair that represent liquorice allsorts!

However, you can still find some very nice and smart cufflinks which have stones in them such as onyx, lapis lazuli, mother of pearl, or a small diamond or emerald set in them.

The arguments rage long and hard about how to wear cufflinks and where and when. If you look around at some of the articles online, you will see that they frequently contradict each other. For instance, one West End hairdressers, who were by appointment to the Duke of Edinburgh, Truefitt & Hill, in an article about cufflinks, state that you should avoid novelty cufflinks. They say that purchasing these, especially as a gift for a friend, can seem tempting, but not only are some of them tacky but there are very few events where they make for acceptable dress. Other people say that wearing novelty cufflinks is perfectly OK for many occasions, although not for a wedding or funeral.

At Wimbledon Cufflink Company, we tend to avoid the novelty styles, and instead produce cufflinks that have a certain amount of panache, such as our heritage range which demonstrate your pride in the country of your birth, whether that is America, Canada, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, and so on. You can buy unique cufflinks online in the UK from us, such as our English Oak cufflinks which depict our historic tree in gold on a dark green background. A pair of cufflinks that any Englishman would be proud to wear.

We also have the Scottish Lion, Welsh Dragon, the Shamrock, English Rose, the Celtic Shield, Golden Lion, Maple Leaf, American Eagle, and many more.

Not only do we have a huge selection of cufflinks, but we will also make them to your own specific design if you wish. So, if you own a business, we could make cufflinks with your company logo on them which will help to promote your business when your male staff, and especially your sales team, are all wearing them.