page_title: Hart Schaffner Marx
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Hart Schaffner Marx / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Men suits by Hart Schaffner and Marx depicted by illustrator John E Sheridan. The setting shows a World War I book drive, with civilian suit-wearer donating books to a US Soldier. The caption reads "This country can't afford waste in food or clothes--neither can you. Our clothes wear long and save. Signature shows both a John E Sheridan script and a stylized block signature.
context_page_description: Hart Schaffner Marx, founded in 1887 and incorporated in 1911 as Hart Schaffner & Marx, is an American manufacturer of tailored menswear. It is owned by the New York-based Authentic Brands Group. Hart Schaffner Marx is located in Chicago.
context_section_description: The company has roots dating back to 1887, when brothers Harry and Max Hart opened a small men's clothing store on Chicago's State Street, called Harry Hart and Brother.  In 1879, the Harts' brothers-in-law, Levi Abt and Marcus Marx, joined the partnership, which was renamed Hart, Abt and Marx.
  Eight years later, Marx and Abt left the business and were replaced by a cousin, Joseph Schaffner (1848–1918), and the firm was renamed Hart Schaffner & Marx. At the same time, however, the wholesale business began to grow, overtaking the retail operations. On the strength of wholesale production, Hart, Abt and Marx won contracts to produce clothing for the U.S. military. This introduced the partners to prefabricated off-the-rack clothing and marked their entry into the ready-to-wear suit trade.
  In 1897, the company began running national advertisements for its products and began selling off-the-rack suits through a variety of distributors. Hart Schaffner & Marx commissioned well-known illustrators, such as John E. Sheridan, to paint pictures for style books and retail posters. These ads portrayed the company's latest fashions in rich surroundings, establishing Hart Schaffner & Marx as a premium brand.
  By 1906 the company had branched into sizes for men who were unusually tall, short, or overweight. Hart Schaffner & Marx thus became a mass-market brand, enabling virtually any man to have a fine quality suit at a lower price than a custom tailored suit.
  In 1910, the company was targeted by the Chicago garment workers' strike, also known as the Hart, Schaffner, and Marx strike, which led to improved conditions for workers and the founding of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.
  On May 10, 1911, after years of steady growth, the partnership was incorporated.  During World War I, the company introduced the first tropical worsted suits and the company's facilities were used for making uniforms.
  In 1926, the company expanded retail operations by acquiring Wallach's, a large New York City-based clothing chain, followed by Chicago retail clothier Baskin the following year. The company again produced uniforms for the military during World War II.
  During the 1950s and 1960s, the company continued to expand with the acquisition of clothing manufacturer Society Brand, a major manufacturing house in 1952; Hickey Freeman, a premier men's clothing brand and retailer of Rochester, New York, was acquired in 1964; Jaymar-Ruby and Kleinhans in 1967; and, in 1969, M. Wile manufacturer of Buffalo, New York. After these major acquisitions, an antitrust suit against the company led to a consent degree barring any further acquisitions, without court approval, for ten years.
  A year before the agreement expired, the company acquired Intercontinental Apparel, U.S. licensee of the Pierre Cardin brand. After acquiring Bishop's men's shops, the company expanded into women's clothing, with the 1981 acquisition of the Country Miss chain.  The Kuppenheimer Manufacturing Company, retailer of inexpensive suits with 41 retail outlets, was acquired in 1982, for $25.8 million. In 1983, the company changed its name to Hartmarx Corporation, with the new parent company acting as a holding company for various subsidiaries.
  The company acquired Briar Neckwear in July 1985 and in December 1986 acquired the casual suit jacket manufacturer H. Ortisky. The following year Hart Schaffner & Marx took over the nine-store Detroit retail chain Anton's, and in 1988 purchased Boyd's, a small retail chain in St. Louis, and the Washington, D.C.-based upscale retailer Raleigh's. In February 1989 the company also added the Biltwell Company, a clothing manufacturer.  By 1992, the company experienced continuing losses and divested itself of all retail outlets, except the Kuppenheimer chain. The company sold its 91-store Kuppenheimer unit and two tailored clothing factories in 1995.
  The 1990s was a period of offshoring of production facilities to control costs.  During that period, they closed ten domestic factories and shifted production to China, Mexico, and Costa Rica.  Expansion 
caption: Hart Schaffner & Marx advertisement by John E. Sheridan, 1919
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