The hatmaker, George Arthur Dunn, began selling Top Hats and Bowlers on the streets of Birmingham (UK) in 1887. Forty years later, his company had grown to 200 hat shops, specialising in Top Hats, Homburgs, Trilbys, ultra-lightweight, ventilated Bowlers and straw Boaters. At its peak, Dunn & Co had a chain of traditional men’s clothing stores all over the UK. However, as formal styles declined in the second half of the twentieth century, so did the company’s fortunes and it was finally wound up in 1996.