Brooks Brothers

Brooks Brothers is the oldest surviving men's clothier in the United States.

On April 7, 1818, at the age of 45, Henry Sands Brooks opened H. & D.H. Brooks & Co. on the Northeast corner of Catherine and Cherry Streets in New York City in what is now the South Street Seaport. His guiding principle: "To make and deal only in merchandise of the finest quality, to sell it at a fair profit and to deal with people who seek and appreciate such merchandise."

In 1850, Henry's grandsons Daniel, John, and Elisha inherited the family business, and Brooks Brothers was born. Brooks Brothers introduced America to the ready-to-wear suit. The last member of the Brooks family to head the company was Winthrop Holly Brooks, who ran the company from 1935 until its sale in 1946. The company was acquired by Julius Garfinckel and Company, and the store's director was John C. Wood who supposedly made Brooks Brothers an even more traditional men's clothier. By 1969, the ten Brooks Brothers stores in operation were located in New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Washington, DC. The firm was acquired by U.K. based Marks and Spencer plc in 1988 who in turn sold it to the privately owned Retail Brand Alliance in 2001. Besides Brooks Brothers the company consists of three established brands : Casual Corner Group, a women's speciality retailer which includes Casual Corner, Petite Sophisticate, August Max and Casual Corner Annex brands; Carolee, a designer of jewelry for department stores and speciality stores; and Adrienne Vittadini, a designer of women's clothing and accessories. Currently, there are 170 Brooks Brother's stores in the U.S. and 70 scattered throughout Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Italy. Brooks Brothers launched its website, http://www.brooksbrothers.com, in 1998.

Though it is considered a very traditional retailer with over 180 years of history it is also an introducer of fashions. In 1830, the store was the first to sell the seersucker suit. In 1896, John E. Brooks, the founder's grandson, invented the button-down dress shirt after seeing the non-flapping collars on English polo players. Between 1865 and 1998, Brooks Brothers did not make an off-the-rack black suit, because Abraham Lincoln wore a bespoke black Brooks frock coat when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth (also, the traditional rule is that black suits are only for servants and the dead).

The Golden Fleece symbol was adopted as the company's trademark. A sheep suspended in a ribbon had been a symbol of British wool merchants. In ancient Greek mythology, a magical flying ram, or Golden Fleece, was sought by Jason and the Argonauts. Ralph Lauren, when his name was still Ralph Lipschitz, started out as a salesman at Brooks' Madison Avenue store, and bought the Polo trademark from Brooks Brothers in 1967. It had previously been Brooks' equestrian line for polo players.