If there is one word that best describes the reason for the longevity of the Brooks Brothers brand, the brand that remains in the soul of the political field by dressing Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr., Hillary and Bill Clinton, and Barak Obama is: devotion.

Since 1818, what marks the success of this noble American brand is not a clever and successful commercial operation, but a pure act of devotion to the value and quality of the brand, surviving not only two world wars, the American Civil War and various whims of government and the economy, as well as more direct threats like  wide leg jeans, casual Fridays and nehru jackets (Indian style jackets brought to prominence by John Lennon and the Beatles).

We are talking about a feeling that is difficult to understand nowadays: we live in hurried times of automated customer service and brand loyalty rates that are now approaching zero. One example is the case of the young J.P. Morgan, who was accompanied to a Brooks Brothers store for his first suit. The clerk who served him on this occasion, Frederick Webb, called him by name upon seeing his young age, and continued to call him by name, even when he crossed the threshold of the store sixty years later, when “Jack” had become the finance tycoon that we all know (Mr. Webb, who worked at Brooks from 1863 to 1928, served five generations of Morgans, from the days of wearing shorts).

But the Astors, the Rockefellers, the Vanderbilts and all the great dynasties of American aristocracy have always supplied their wardrobe from Brooks Brothers.

This unwavering devotion, this loyalty, is not susceptible to passing time, and shows that we are dealing with something quite different from a house with classic-formal attire and big turnovers. Brooks Brothers is a true titan, one of the few worldwide companies to be recognized for their firm desire to remain anchored in the most genuine values of its past, values deeply rooted in tacit agreement, set out almost two hundred years ago, between the company and customer, together articulating strong and moral relations that have managed to weave between consumers, business partners, suppliers, buyers, and tailors.

It is a legendary name for Americans, synonymous with old traditions in a country that has a very short history, a symbol of quality craftsmanship and patrician taste in a nation that has built its power on the concepts of assembly and extreme practicality.

What you are about to read is the story of Brooks Brothers, the story of the oldest classic apparel retailer of the New World, the story of a worldwide success, the story of an American icon.

History – birth, growth, success

On April 7, 1818, at the age of 46, Henry Sands Brooks, son of a country doctor in Connecticut, opened his first store in New York City on Catherine and Cherry Streets, in the port zone, an extremely vibrant area during that time that was full of business opportunities, but also the home to private residences of the wealthy class. Given the growing success of the small store, Henry was soon joined by his younger brother David, and together they formed H. & D.H. Brooks and Co.

We cannot know what the real expectations of Henry Sands Brooks were as he opened his first store, but the thought that inspired him was destined to become what today is called their “mission statement”: “To produce and distribute only the highest quality products, sell them and generate a fair profit, and propose them only to those who seek and are able to appreciate this quality”.

Nearly two hundred years later (in 2010 the brand will celebrate 192 years in business), employees and directors of Brooks Brothers continue to refer to this thought as the “only the beginning”.

Upon the death of Henry Sands Brooks in 1833, after absorbing the lessons of their father, his sons Daniel H., John, Elisha and Edward took over the reins of the store.

In 1850, H. & D.H. Brooks and Co. became more simply Brooks Brothers, and during the same year came the adoption of the image of a golden fleece suspended in a ribbon, as in the company logo.

History – Brooks’ Management

The company remained in the hands of the Brooks family until the forties, when it was clear to everyone that no family member could replace Winthrop H. Brooks, grandson of the founder. Gratuated from Yale in 1915, he led the company with ostentatious reluctance until 1946 (it wasn’t his desire to follow the family business), but he still managed to attain good results, especially given that his management coincided with two dark periods in the American economy, the Depression and the Second World War. Francis Lloyd inherited the presidency of the company, a close associate of Brooks since he joined the company at the age of 13 as an apprentice. During his management, the Vice President was a Brooks family member, the grandson of Henry Sands to be precise, so you can say that during Lloyd’s administration, the company was still in the hands of the family.
After Winthrop H. Brooks, the helm finally passed to outside hands.

History – Management passes to external hands

In 1946, the company was acquired by Julius Garfinckel and Co. of Washington DC, which named John C. Wood as President. Wood's first move, an autocratic man who was conservative and “starchy”, was to reassure all the employees and clients, alarmed by the fact that the company had passed to hands outside the family, saying that his leadership would make “Brooks even Brooksier”. Already after a few years, in the late forties, Brooks Brothers was in fact stronger than ever: Wood was able to honor the deepest values of the company. His was an upright administration, which lasted twenty years. John Wood is still considered the benchmark against which every new leader is forced to compare themselves. He retired in 1967, leaving the company more prosperous than ever.

Then followed the era of Frank Reilly, who was president from 1974 to 1980, and who is credited with beginning the process of expansion and bringing the company to international prominence.

In the eighties, Brooks Brothers was the most profitable men's clothing industry in America, which made it attractive to any new investor. In 1981, Allied Stores Corporation acquired the entire share capital of BB from Garfinckel, for the sole purpose, however, to exploit all its resources. The company was only able to overcome the eighties thanks to the president Frank Reilly (who was not replaced by the new holding company), who managed to maintain the focus on core business and manage the company well, taking advantage of the new ownership’s frequent moments of distraction (they were totally disinterested in safeguarding their heritage).

History – Marks & Spencer management

In 1988, Brooks Brothers was acquired by the impressive British department store chain Marks & Spencer, which sanctioned for the American brand entrance to its darkest period, because in fact the British retailer, in thirteen years of management, overturned the company’s principles and mission, quality of product and customer base.

The company had been in the hands of Garfinckel for about thirty-five years, and throughout that time its core business was not changed from when the company began in 1818. Garfinckel managed to keep its traditions intact and preserve its value. Instead, the Marks & Spencer management was challenged by the Brooks Brothers “people” (executives and customers) throughout the period, who had appreciated the product and loved the brand for more than 170 years.

For every department store worthy of respect, especially for those who have the most branches, business revolves around the concept  of “low margins, significant sales”, and Marks & Spencer did not escape this logic. Its inexperience in managing a high-end brand began to cause some concern.

Furthermore, most of its operations in the clothing sector were related to women's lines, a sector characterized by a high turnover of products and frequent changes in style. If the big chain seemed very able to handle the sale of a £5 bra, it simultaneously showed less skill with a £500 blazer which, in style, had not changed much in over a century.

M&S owed its success to the organic growth of its stores, including both the extension of existing stores and addition of new ones, but it never made a full acquisition of an external company. This inexperience was also reflected in the management of the American brand.

Even more serious was the question of culture differences (English vs. American), which resulted in frequent disagreements between the executives of Brooks Brothers and the directors of M&S. Moreover, the top management of Marks & Spencer changed frequently: the president of Brooks Brothers, Bill Roberti, had to report to four different board of directors in seven years. But what was worse was that the opinion of the BB sellers remained unheard. The directors of M&S simply did not want to listen.

Marks & Spencer exercised strong control of costs, which is natural for major retail chains, meaning a reduction in sales staff. This was another big point against them for Brooks Brothers, who had built the brand’s strength on the close relationship between customer and seller.

Finally, we must mention the strategy for changing their offering: the new management, in an effort to achieve a younger target of customers, increased sportswear from 14% to 40%, and decreased the whole sartorial department from 50% to 20%. This is to say that it ended the tailor-made segment. The news was a shock: the austere New York Times put it on the front page, comparing it to the Vatican's decision to stop holding mass in Latin. It was the end of an era. The women's line, who had to share its space with the junior department, now had an entire floor available. And cardigans and lingerie, which for 171 years had been displayed in glass cases and handled only by sales staff with an almost religious ritual, were moved to tables and areas in which the client could serve themselves.

Everyone began to wonder: where is the Brooks Brothers of our parents? Well, the Brooks Brothers to which many men had been introduced for appointments for the first time by their parents no longer existed. Marks & Spencer had swept away the core business of the brand: high-end classic men's clothing.

In the mid-nineties, Marks & Spencer was able to destroy the three cornerstones of Brooks Brothers’ reputation: quality, breadth of offering, and customer service. In fact, in an attempt to lower the age of its consumers, it put the garments on sale at more affordable prices, of course to the detriment of quality.

The brand was repositioned in a broadly lower market bracket and emptied of all aspirational content. The long and solid relationship with the client had gone up in smoke. The brand, which had a history equal to no one else, had become one of the many brands available to customers in a department store. Suddenly, the sole custodians of the knowledge of how to dress well had become the producers of turquoise neckties and acid purple shirts.

Even the boutiques had to undergo a restyling, and the mythical woodwork stores of luxury shame and the atmosphere of a private club were forced to give way to a more modern decor, almost futuristic, as was required by the current fashion of glass and steel.

The pact was broken, but above all there was no clear strategy on how to go forward.

Now we must say, to be truthful, that not everything that the noted chain did was a mistake. For example, we must give M&S credit for having launched outlet stores, which are still a very profitable segment of the company. And also for giving more space to the women's line. And finally, for automating some management procedures.

It is also true that the world has changed in 170 years, and with it the taste of men. It was time to tackle a new client, which called for a more comfortable and casual clothing for job settings.

But despite all its efforts (to recall new customers, to increase capital, to replace management), the British retailer was unable to create a significant growth in the brand’s profitability. So in 2001, it decided to discard the company.

History – Retail Brand Alliance management

Certainly Brooks Brothers must have seemed more like a difficult business to run than a good business opportunity, and whatever consumer confidence remained evaportaed in the tragedy of September 11. Who could be interested in a brand that needed to be repositioned, but above all urgently needed a large infusion of capital?

On Thanksgiving Day in 2001, Brooks Brothers was bought by Retail Brand Alliance, a company which then owned The Casual Corner Group (a medium-high end chain of women's formal wear, sold entirely in 2005 to Gordon Brothers Group). The acquisition was greeted with much skepticism by the Brooks Brothers executives because RBA’s only experience in clothing was Casual Corner (the acquisition of other brands of the group, Adrienne Vittadini - womenswear - and Carolee - jewelry and accessories, came during the same year of the Brooks Brothers acquisition, 2001). It was feared to fall again in the grips of a cynical and greedy investor, with little experience in the luxury sector.

But such skepticism vanished when the new group showed anything but greed, when it became clear that the new holding company had a great love for the brand and every intention to return it to its former glory, with respect to all stakeholders’ interest. No one could know all of this, because no one knew the man driving RBA yet: Claudio Del Vecchio.

The man who knows how to listen

Del Vecchio, son of Leonardo, the owner of Luxottica, immediately appeared as the man best suited to lead the brand, primarily because of his strong dedication to the brand, quite comparable to the passion that most loyal customers of Brooks Brothers had during the golden age (the devotion manifested at a young age when he used to attend BB boutiques on Madison Avenue for personal purchases). It is not a mistake to say that although the new chairman, Del Vecchio is first a most loyal customer of Brooks Brothers. “I consider my duty, as President of Brooks Brothers, to perpetuate and reinforce the mission expressed by our founder, Henry Sands Brooks, the man who nearly two centuries ago had anticipated contemporary marketing with his cutting edge ideas,” he said on the day of his first assembly at Brooks. It refreshed their spirits.

And indeed many things unite Del Vecchio and Henry Sands Brooks: both are sons of self-made men, building an empire with their own forces; both grew professionally in a family business, supported by the idea of being both producers and traders.

Claudio Del Vecchio was well aware that the company he visited for his first tailor-made purchase was not the same. Practically on the verge of collapse, it was immediately revived. The first step towards the revival was to listen: listen to executives who had much to tell, listen to consumers, listen to the sellers.

To better understand the spirit of Brooks Brothers, he then made a visit to the company archives and discovered, rather than a confused uproar of product-cards and old advertising campaigns, a rich and varied world of forgotten colors, fabrics and designs that could inspire the future of the company: a vast historical memory from which to draw upon for each new project. “Before seeing the archives, I liked the Brooks Brothers brand; now that I've seen the archives, I love the brand,” Del Vecchio said on that occasion, now completely enthralled by the charm of the brand’s old values and persuaded to restructure the organization and build a team that was able to share his vision: to return to quality, and to recover value and historical heritage.

Almost without realizing it, Del Vecchio was applying the old Brooks model, involving a mixture of “Brooks people” and new people, united by one fundamental trait: a real passion for the brand.

Among the objectives of the new management was also a priority to restore the focus on classically custom tailored clothing.

It also started a series of visits to suppliers in order to re-establish solid partnership relations. The result was a reduction in their number by about half, which concentrated the production management in the hands of a select few trusted partners. In 2008, the new Brooks Brothers purchased a stake (25%) in the historic factory J.J. & H.B. 1788 Cashmere Mills of Innerleithen, the oldest textile industry in Scotland to be in operation continuously since its foundation, for 230 years, along with Ballantyne (20%) and Massimiliano Zegna Baruffa (55%).

With its promise to be both producers and traders, in the same year the company purchased Southwick, a textile manufacturer in the market for 70 years, and in 2009 it built a textile factory in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

Beyond the two examples cited, suppliers-partners are naturally more numerous, as are many suppliers of fabrics not in a partnership, among which may include Loro Piana, for example.

In less than two years since his establishment, Del Vecchio achieved a miracle: starting in 2003, cashmere sweaters in two layers produced in Mexico were replaced by a three-layer mesh of Italian manufacturing.

Today, eight years later, Brooks Brothers has returned to offer a wider range, at three levels: the BrooksEase line, dedicated to children and characterized by a more moderate price range; the first line, “1818”, and the top-end Golden Fleece line. For example, if you want to buy a blazer you could find it in all three lines.

And speaking of variety of offering, it is valid for everything, for example shirts. Before the arrival of RBA, the house offered shirts in 14 different styles. Today in the boutiques, customers will find 57 different models of shirt designs, colors and sizes. No other company in America offers such a variety of options.

We do not know, nor can we know, why the four Brooks brothers chose the symbol of a golden fleece as the company logo. The most obvious explanation is the apparent symbolic association of the fleece (the wool that covers the bodies of animals) with Scottish and English yarn producers - of ancient textile traditions, and therefore synonymous with refined elegance - with which the Brooks had very serious business relationships.

What is indisputably certain, however, is the ability to trace the historical and mythological origins of the Golden Fleece.

Among historical origins, it can be easily traced back to the Order of the Golden Fleece, instituted on January 10, 1430 by Philip III of Burgundy in Bruges to celebrate his marriage with the Portuguese princess Isabella of Aviz. The Order of the Golden Fleece was modeled after the English Order of the Garter, but was dedicated to St. Andrew, who today is still the supreme patron of the Order. Like the Order of the Garter, it was distinguished by having a limited number of knights (initially 24, increasing to 30 in 1433, and then 50 in 1516, clearly beyond the sovereign). The great peculiarity and novelty of this Order, which made it truly exclusive, and certainly one of the most famous in the world, was the extraordinary privileges which the honored had. The Order quickly became one of the most prestigious in Europe, and joining it meant to be recognized for all purposes as a member of European nobility. The chain of the Order is still made of flint (known in ancient times as “focile”) contrasted with golden gems that symbolize sparks. The lower part of the chain holds the figure of a lamb's fleece ("fleece" from French toison, properly the sheared fleece, with allusion to the Golden Fleece of mythology), and bears the motto pretium non vile laborum (it is not unbecoming to receive a reward for work). The ribbon holding the fleece’s collar is red. One might think that the Brooks brothers believed that, as with the Order, to enter the Brooks Brothers world meant to join a very exclusive club.

In Greek mythology, Nephele was rejected by her husband Athamus, and his new wife, Ino, hated the children of his previous marriage, Elle and Frisso, to the point of trying to kill them in order to allow her own son to ascend the throne. Upon learning Ino’s plans, Nephele asked the help of Hermes, who sent a ram of a golden fleece. He loaded the two sons on its back and transported them, flying to Colchis. But Elle fell into the sea during the flight and was drowned. Frisso arrived at the destination, where he was hosted by Aeëtes.

The myth seems to refer to the first voyages of Greek merchant-sailors in search of gold, of which the Greek peninsula is very low. And this seems to be a very pertinent allusion to the Brooks brothers’ frequent travels in the United Kingdom in search of unique and precious yarn unavailable in the American market.