the brook brothers . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message brooks brothers type private industry clothier founded 1818 ; 198 years ago 1818 manhattan new york city united states headquarters madison avenue manhattan new york key people founded by henry sands brooks products men s and women s luxury clothing parent retail brand alliance website brooksbrothers.com brooks brothers is the oldest men s clothier in the united states and is headquartered on madison avenue in manhattan new york city . founded in 1818 as a family business the privately owned company is owned by the italian billionaire claudio del vecchio and now also features clothing for women . contents 1 history 1.1 today 2 clothing innovations 3 notable alumni 4 notable customers 4.1 statesmen 4.2 music and fine arts 4.3 film and television 5 in fiction 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit on april 7 1818 at the age of forty five henry sands brooks 1772 1833 opened h. & d. h. brooks & co. on the northeast corner of catherine and cherry streets in manhattan new york . he proclaimed that his guiding principle was to make and deal only in merchandise of the finest body to sell it at a fair profit and to deal with people who seek and appreciate such merchandise . 1 in 1833 his four sons elisha daniel edward and john inherited the family business and in 1850 renamed the company brooks brothers . 2 the first brooks clothier store at catharine street in manhattan 1845 in its early history brooks brothers was most widely known for introducing the ready to wear suit to american customers . in the mid nineteenth century brooks brothers outfitted united states president abraham lincoln and considered him a loyal customer . 3 at his second inauguration abraham lincoln wore a coat specially crafted for him by brooks brothers . hand stitched into the coat s lining was a design featuring an eagle and the inscription one country one destiny . he was wearing the coat and a brooks brothers suit when he was assassinated . 4 5 brooks brothers also profited from slavery by manufacturing and selling clothes made specifically for slaves to wear . 6 as a supplier of soldiers uniforms during the civil war brooks brothers became a target of outrage for its allegedly shoddy production . with a contract from new york state to supply uniforms for the new york volunteers brooks brothers took shredded and sometimes decaying rags glued them together and stitched them into uniforms . they would fall apart in the rain and were the subject of ridicule from other regiments . 7 brooks brothers has outfitted 39 of the 44 american presidents . 3 united states president ulysses s. grant began his association with brooks brothers during the civil war when he ordered tailored uniforms for the union officers in the american civil war . 3 president theodore roosevelt was fond of brooks brothers clothes ; he even ordered his dress uniform for the spanish american war at brooks brothers . many more presidents including herbert hoover theodore roosevelt franklin roosevelt john f. kennedy richard nixon gerald ford george h. w. bush bill clinton and barack obama were known to wear brooks brothers clothing lines . 5 franklin roosevelt wore a brooks brothers collared cape and fedora at the yalta conference in 1945 . 8 in the late nineteenth century brooks brothers tailored many distinctive uniforms for elite regiments of the new york national guard as well as uniforms for new york state troops and union officers during the civil war . 9 at that time contracts for uniforms were notorious as an example of corruption in how they were obtained and the poor quality of the clothing delivered the uniforms often having been made of pressed rag so that they fell apart in the first rains . 10 the golden fleece symbol was adopted as the company s trademark in 1850 . a sheep suspended in a ribbon had long been a symbol of british woolen merchants . dating from the fifteenth century the image had been the emblem of the knights of the golden fleece founded by philip the good duke of burgundy . in classical greek mythology a magical flying ram or golden fleece was sought by jason and the argonauts . 11 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 when the company was acquired by julius garfinckel & co. although winthrop brooks remained with the company as a figurehead after the acquisition john c. wood became the director of brooks brothers . just prior to that wood had been the carrier of the papers for the dumbarton oaks conference . 12 under the leadership of wood brooks brothers became even more traditional . brooks brothers logo ca. 1969 by 1971 eleven brooks brothers stores were in operation and located in manhattan chicago boston san francisco pittsburgh los angeles atlanta washington d.c. and st. louis as an integral part of the retail conglomerate garfinckel brooks brothers miller & rhoads inc. that held the company until 1981 when it was acquired by allied stores . brooks brothers was acquired by the british firm marks & spencer in 1988 . in 2001 marks & spencer sold brooks brothers to retail brand alliance rba now known as the brooks brothers group a company privately owned by italian billionaire claudio del vecchio son of luxottica founder leonardo del vecchio . 13 along with brooks brothers rba comprises carolee a designer of jewelry for department stores and specialty stores . 14 in 2007 rba sold its high end women s brand adrienne vittadini . today edit as of 2015 there were 210 brooks brothers stores in the united states and 70 in other countries including australia india taiwan korea japan china dubai france the united kingdom chile canada panama italy poland mexico uae peru singapore switzerland 15 indonesia malaysia and greece . in 1998 brooks brothers launched its official website . headquartered on new york s madison avenue united states flagship stores are in manhattan san francisco chicago boston and beverly hills . citation needed brooks brothers 44th street location in manhattan although most of brooks brothers clothing is imported many of the firm s suits sport coats shirts and some accessories are manufactured in the united states . many of its mid range 1818 line of suits are manufactured at brooks brothers southwick plant in haverhill massachusetts . all brooks brothers necktie silk is woven in england or italy and the ties still are cut and piled at the brooks brothers tie factory in long island city new york ; many of its shirts are manufactured at its shirt factory in garland north carolina . brooks also has a series of books on etiquette and manners for ladies and gentlemen . its higher end label is the golden fleece line which features suits that are hand tailored in the united states . citation needed in september 2007 brooks brothers ceo claudio del vecchio announced the unveiling of a new high end collection of men s and women s wear named black fleece . del vecchio announced that the first star guest designer for the new collection would be new york menswear designer thom browne . 16 black fleece received so much critical and commercial success that brooks brothers opened a stand alone black fleece boutique on bleecker street in the winter of 2008 . brooks brothers store on rodeo drive in beverly hills california in 2008 the company began an extensive renovation of its flagship store at 346 madison avenue and in january 2009 closed a smaller location at fifth avenue and 53rd street in manhattan . brooks brothers had planned to close store 124 in west nyack new york on march 27 2010 due to slumping sales . citation needed clothing innovations edit although today many people consider brooks brothers a very traditional clothier the company introduced many clothing novelties to the american market throughout its history as a leader in the american menswear industry ready to wear in 1849 citation needed 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 . english foulard ties introduced by francis g. lloyd in the 1890s before he was made president of the corporation ivy league sack suit 1895 pink dress shirt became a sensation to go with charcoal gray suits harris tweed introduced in 1900 shetland sweater introduced in 1904 polo coat about 1910 madras introduced from india via brooks brothers to the public in 1902 argyles in 1957 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 non iron 100 % cotton dress shirt 1998 17 18 brooks brothers did not make an off the rack black suit between 1865 and 2003 . citation needed for many years a myth circulated that the reason the company did not make black suits out of deference to abraham lincoln who wore a bespoke black brooks frock coat a gift from the company when he was assassinated . 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 deceased . 19 horween leather company supplies leather shells for footwear to brooks brothers . 20 21 22 notable alumni edit ralph lauren started out as a salesman at the brooks brothers madison avenue store . in a famous lawsuit which against its former employee brooks brothers managed to retain its rights to the iconic original polo button down collar shirt still produced today in spite of lauren s polo trademark . citation needed notable customers edit a display in a brooks brothers store cary grant clark gable jimmy stewart barry fitzgerald fred astaire nina foch and maria riva are among a long list of hollywood celebrities who obtained special attention during the 1940s at brooks brothers in manhattan and they also catered to executives in the emerging television industry such as fred friendly and edward r. kenefick of cbs . 23 statesmen edit brooks brothers has outfitted 39 of the 44 american presidents including presidents abraham lincoln ulysses s. grant theodore roosevelt herbert hoover franklin roosevelt john f. kennedy richard nixon gerald ford george h. w. bush bill clinton and barack obama . 3 u.s. president barack obama wore a brooks brothers coat scarf and gloves during his inauguration in 2009 . 24 french former president jacques chirac buys his shirts at the madison shop . 25 music and fine arts edit brooks brothers is the official clothier of the jazz at lincoln center orchestra . 26 andy warhol was known to buy and wear clothes from brooks brothers . according to carlton walters i got to know andy quite well and he always looked bedraggled always had his tie lopsided as he didn t have time to tie it and he never tied his shoe laces and he even wore different colored socks but he bought all of his clothes at brooks brothers . 27 film and television edit brooks brothers supplied clothes for the television show mad men . in october 2009 brooks brothers created a limited