As I happen to be wearing one of their shirts today I thought it might be nice to remember them.
They made for J. Press (according to Mark McNairy) & may have also made for LL Bean from their factory in Waterville, Maine, which sadly closed in 2002.
Wiki informs that Hathaway was the last MAJOR American shirt company to produce shirts in the USA - And I offer you that fact purely for your entertainment.
Hathaway started way back and made shirts for the Yankee side in the American Civil War, Wiki also informs.
Their advertising will be familiar to most people & there's also a book you can get too: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hathaway-Shirts-Advertising-designers-collectors/dp/0764306286/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264757266&sr=1-1
And here's some nice pics of the Ad Man who marketed Hathaway so well: http://ndn2.newsweek.com/media/27/olgivy-gross-vl-vertical.jpg http://www.ogilvydurham.com/bioPics/dogilvy.jpg
And here's their gaff: http://www.watervillemainstreet.org/historictour/hathaway.php
What else can I tell you? My shirt is kind of blue and very nice. The Hathaway name should be remembered too.
Best,
"Striving to create the perfect collar in men's shirts has been an ongoing process since the manufacturing of tailored shirts began. The first innovation by Hathaway was the stiff detached collar. After men had fought in World War I, they wanted the ease of the softer attached collars that had been part of their uniforms. The problem with soft collars was keeping their points down. Hathaway introduced celluloid collar stays, but they were an unsatisfactory solution. In 1900 John Brooks, of rival Brook's Brothers, invented the button-down collar, a revolutionary development. In the years to come Hathaway would use an assortment of collar styles in its shirts: the London regular collar, the tab collar, and the London Cape collar, as well as the button-down."
was always fond of their packaging as a child. it was a guy with an eyepatch. thought it was very cool to be trotted off to mass in "pirate-brand" shirts. their little red "H" on the bottom is also a nice detail. come across very cool-ly detailed examples they did for various mens shops in chicago while digging around on behalf of people on your side of the pond, but unfortunately their entire output for this area was in poly-blend.
The 'Hathaway man' is famous in advertising history. I use it when I do my lectures to colleges etc.
The story goes that the eye patch was a brainwave of advertising guru David Ogilvy, who thought it would be quirky and add interest to the shot.
These ads are still held up today as examples of successful advertising design.
Late 70's Hathaways (sold in London in the early 80's) were good. Then the poly blends swamped the market - Which I still bought along with Arrow (after dumping Van Heusen) because I liked the style.
Vintage Hathaway is worth a look.
Hathaway for Press (According to McNairy - If it's a 3btn collar from the mid-80's it's Hathaway for Press) are excellent.
Did they make for LL Bean? Waterville to Freeport isn't that much of a schlepp.
they seem to have the custom mens shop cornered around here, by the amount i see.
the most prestigious department store of here, sadly deceased marshall fields, seems to have had all of their shirts done by hathaway as well.....which might be why/how they cornered the market here.
as far as their being the last major brand though.....landsend seems to have gone overseas in the last 6 mos. before christmas i was still seeing USA made stuff in stores.
DO YOU DARE TO QUESTION WIKI, MORTAL????
And quite right too !
... Oh I dunno.
I just google & crap falls out of my 'puter.
dirty dog
guess it depends on definition of "major brand" anyways. havent seen any foreign brooks shirts yet.
my moneys on redwings going to crapistan when the craze is over. very unfortunately.
are they making overseas now? somehow ive never seen one. perhaps the ones for the export market are imported? or am i just crazy?
as to redwings theyre already starting to put the redwings label on various chinese boots. the USA made ones dont have a union label anymore....im guessing minor components are outsourced. that was always a big deal...theyd sell imports under "setters" or "worx" or "carhartt" but the wings were certified to be USA. not no more. the afl-cio is actually telling us to boycott them for this reason...a tactic which may speed their departure from these shores i think.
it was the last major single shirt factory in the USA, according to .....dammit, already forgot. investors busness daily, i think the site was.