Brooks Brothers has been a keystone of American formal wear for more than 200 years . The companionship ’s wooing have been wear by40U.S. President of the United States . They have supplied uniform to the American armed forces and suits to regular people for their most important life-time event : go to the prom , advert their first job interview , getting married .
But in July 2020 , the firmfiled for failure , belike a victim of the working - from - family trend and the move towards more perfunctory wear . The Brooks Brothers ’s name has been wind into the fabric of American fashion , yet a certain closed book surrounds the hoi polloi behind the business . Who were the original Brooks Brothers , anyway ?
The firm that would go on to be known as Brooks Brothers was established on April 7 , 1818 , by 45 - year - old Henry Sands Brooks and his jr. brother , David , asH & D. H. Brooks and Co. Before set up the store , Henry Sands Brooks had been a victualler for traders and seafarers , and probably did snappy business in New York City ’s harbour . Their shop was posit on the corner of Catherine and Cherry streets in Lower Manhattan , a major shopping district that supported a routine of clothing stores . It was said Brooks was something of a dandy with an middle for manner .
Henry Sands Brooks conk out in 1833 , and the store passed to his eldest son , Henry Jr. When he died in 1850 , Brooks Sr . ’s four younger sons Daniel , John , Elisha , and Edward inherited the business firm and rename it Brooks Brothers . At this stage , the store began to put up out from the crowd . The brother adopted their conversant logo of a sheep debar by a palm representing the Golden Fleece . This ancient symbolic representation hearkened back to the Greeklegendof Jason and the Argonauts , and was used by tailors and wool merchant across Europe as a star sign of quality . By embracing this symbolization , the brother were announcing the calibre of their goods and line up themselves with the prestige of European fashion .
patronage boomed in the years guide up to the Civil War , a time when the companybenefited from slavery . Much of the cotton used by Brooks Brothers was pick by enslaved laborers in the South . The companionship also manufactured the types of uniforms worn by enslaved people forced to work as house servants .
Perhaps as a result of their experience make such clothing , Brooks Brothers was given a large contract by the Union government at the start of the Civil War to provide ten of thousands of uniforms for enlisted soldiers . A scandal blow up when the garment were delivered : it was obvious that the uniform were of low quality , missing buttons or buttonholes , and made from loud scraps of cloth glued instead of sewn together . When the outfits were unwrap to confidential information and rain , they fell apart . In the rush to construct them for the warfare exploit , Brooks Brothers had , in fact , substitute cheap and flimsy material instead of the usual degree of textile — they were earmark to , grant to the provisionswritten into their declaration .
The New York state legislaturelaunchedan investigation , accusing the company of profiteering . When asked how much money the company had made by downgrading the cloth , Elisha Brooks prevaricated . “ I mean that I can not see the difference without spending more time than I can now pay to that purpose , ” Brooks told lawmakers . Ultimately , Brooks Brothers agreed to replace 2350 of the deficient uniforms at a cost of $ 45,000 .
The caller ’s tie-up with fit out the Union Army got them into hassle again in July 1863 . The injured party among members of New York regiment were increasing as the war showed no signs of firmness . In New York City , work year hoi polloi protested against the draught , and the protests quickly turned into ariotof antiblack violence and looting . Brooks Brothers ’s Cherry Street stock was one of the organization it targeted . Harper ’s Weeklyreportedthat “ a prominent issue of marauder paid a sojourn to the extensive wear - stock of Messrs. Brooks Brothers … there they helped themselves to such articles as they wanted , after which they might be see dispersing in all guidance , laden with their ill - get booty . ”
Brooks Brothers ’s reputation did n’t endure for long , however . At his second presidential inaugural in March 1865 , Abraham Lincoln fag agreatcoatmade by the company . It featured an bird of Jove embroidered into its facing with the motto “ One Country , One Destiny . ” Lincoln was wearing the same coating when , just two week by and by , he was assassinated atFord ’s Theatrein Washington , D.C. After his death , Mary Todd Lincoln gave the coat to Alphonse Donn , a doorman at the White House , who kept it for the eternal sleep of his life . Donn ’s class eventually sold the coat to the United States Capitol Historical Society , and it is now in the Ford ’s Theatremuseum ’s appeal .
Brooks Brothers extend to get and amplify . The party insert enduring fashions such as the button - downpolo shirtin 1896 , thesack suitin 1901 , and their own version of a British regimental tie , thestriped rep tie , in 1902 .
For more than 200 days , the company has outfitted President of the United States , Wall Street bargainer , and businesspeople , becoming an iconic American brand with oecumenical appeal . But today , their time to come may be less certain .
