Brooks Brothers - Clothing Innovations

Clothing Innovations

Although today many people consider Brooks Brothers a very traditional clothier, it is known for having introduced many clothing novelties to the market throughout its history as a leader in the industry. In 1896, John E. Brooks, the grandson of Henry Sands Brooks, applied button-down collars to dress shirts after having seen them on English polo players. In addition to the aforementioned (ready-made clothing in 1859 and the Button-Down Dress Shirt in 1896), other firsts Brooks Brothers brought to America include: English Foulard Ties (introduced by Francis G. Lloyd in the 1890s before he was made president of the corporation); The Sack Suit (1895); The Pink Dress Shirt (before 1900, it became a sensation in the postwar period to go with charcoal-gray suits); The Shetland Sweater (introduced in 1904); The Polo Coat (about 1910); Madras (introduced from India via Brooks Brothers to the public in 1920); Argyles (in the 1920s, Brooks Brothers became the first American retailer to manufacture argyle socks for men); Light-weight Summer Suits (the first lightweight summer suits made of cotton corduroy and seersucker were introduced by Brooks during the early 1930s); Wash-and-Wear Shirts (in 1953 the store pioneered the manufacture of wash-and-wear shirts using a blend of Dacron, polyester, and cotton that was invented by Ruth R. Benerito, which they called "Brooksweave"); and the Non-iron Cotton Dress Shirt (1999).

Between 1865 and 1998, Brooks Brothers did not make an off-the-rack black suit. The idea that this was because Abraham Lincoln wore a bespoke black Brooks frock coat when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth is a myth. It is not clear if this policy was the result or cause of the traditional American fashion rule that black suits in daytime for men are proper only for servants and the dead.

Through the middle of the twentieth century, when men generally wore full suits much more than now, "a Brooks Brothers suit" might even be mentioned to suggest the wearer's ordinariness. A popular book on evolution suggested that a Neanderthal man might pass unnoticed if he went out wearing the suit.