Touker Suleyman was born in Cyprus and became chief executive of the Hawes & Curtis shirt retailer.
Suleyman was born in Famagusta, Cyprus, in 1957 and moved with his family to southeast London. He built his career in fashion and retail, eventually acquiring Hawes & Curtis, the British shirtmaker founded in 1913. He became the company's chief executive and expanded its retail and online presence.
Suleyman joined the Dragon's Den panel in 2015. His expertise is strongly associated with fashion sourcing, manufacturing, branding and the economics of physical and online retail. Those interests distinguish him from Dragons whose primary backgrounds are in technology, property or broadcasting.
Hawes & Curtis is sometimes confused with other historic British shirt brands, including T.M. Lewin and Charles Tyrwhitt. Suleyman's association with Hawes & Curtis is specifically through ownership and leadership of that company, not merely a television investment in it.