Geoff Quinn has always had an interest in cuffs. Yet a lack of educational qualifications and “being such an awful speller” meant that the chief executive of TM Lewin decided against following his childhood dream of becoming a policeman. Instead, he embarked on a career in retailing, in which he has earned a reputation as the man who has brought upmarket shirts to the masses.

TM Lewin, which sold 1.8 million shirts last year, is reaping the rewards of an expansion drive led by Mr Quinn. The group operates 57 stores, as well as a number of in-store concessions and a home shopping unit. It has more than 500 staff. Sales in the first three months of the retailer's new financial year have defied the gloom elsewhere on the high street, rising 16 per cent from the same period last year, largely driven by 11 store openings.

The company has also been given a boost by office workers who are smartening up their wardrobe to save their jobs. Underlying profits were up 21 per cent at £11 million.

It could all have been so different. Armed with a solitary O level when he left school, Mr Quinn joined the royal shirtmaker Turnbull & Asser. A couple of years later Mr Quinn moved on to Lewin after a group of investors had bought the company. “There were six of us and our annual turnover was £170,000 - now I'm annoyed if we don't make that every day,” he said.

Mr Quinn and the boss, Chris McKenna, had the simple strategy of offering “Jermyn Street quality at reasonable prices”. An offer of four shirts for £100, introduced four years ago, epitomises the approach. Lewin is now considering opening women's stores and expanding overseas, as well as pondering a wholesale operation.

In 1993 Mr Quinn took over running the business after the deaths of Mr McKenna in a car crash and of Mr McKenna's brother Tony from a heart attack. In 2006 Mr Quinn oversaw a management buyout with Bank of Scotland Corporate. The bank left management with 80 per cent of the equity of the business in a £50 million deal, including extra cash funding for growth.

Mr Quinn, a self-confessed “shirt nerd”, believes that Lewin has played a key role in turning Britons from fashion disasters to power-dressers. “We've got so much better since the 1980s,” he said. “When the Tories were in power, you would watch the TV and see politicians with crinkled shirts and ill-fitting collars.” Lewin's website urges customers: “Act your age, not your neck size, and buy a shirt that fits.”

Mr Quinn, 49, is married with three children.

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