Fruit of the Loom
| Fruit of the Loom, Ltd.
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|---|---|
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| legal form | Ltd |
| founding | 1851 |
| Seat | Bowling Green , Kentucky , USA |
| Number of employees | over 40,000 worldwide |
| Branch | Clothing manufacturer |
| Website | www.fruitoftheloom.de |
Fruit of the Loom ( Engl. "Fruit of the loom") is an international clothing brand. Founded in 1851 by brothers Benjamin and Robert Knight in Warwick, Rhode Island under the name BB and R. Knight Corporation , the company changed its name to Fruit of the Loom five years later . The current headquarters are in Bowling Green , Kentucky / USA .
In Germany, Fruit of the Loom is primarily known as a supplier of cotton outerwear ( T-shirts , sweatshirts , polo shirts , etc.) in low to medium price categories, often from special offers from large department store chains. The company's European headquarters are in Kaiserslautern, Germany.
Garments often bear the company's own seal of "resource-saving processing" for their respective products.
history
The trademark was registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1871 .
The logo goes back to the daughter of the retailer Rufus Skeel, who works intensively with apples. When she started putting apples she'd painted on Fruit of the Loom products, sales increased. When the Knight brothers heard about it, they used the apple as their logo from then on. With the world exhibition in 1893, the World Columbian Exposition , the logo consisting of a still life of fruits was introduced, which is still used today in a modernized and simplified form, with a now strong red apple.
In 1938 the Union Underwear Company acquired the license rights for 25 years. In 1955 Union Underwear was taken over by the conglomerate Philadelphia & Reading Corporation . This in turn acquired the Fruit of the Loom Licensing Company in 1961. In 1968 Philadelphia & Reading merged with the conglomerate Northwest Industries . Fruit of the Loom was now a subsidiary of this company for several years.
The investment manager William F. Farley acquired Northwest Industries with his Farley Industries in 1985 for 1.4 billion dollars. The merged company Farley Northwest Industries was renamed Fruit of the Loom Inc. in 1987 and floated on the stock exchange. Furthermore, all subsidiaries that had nothing to do with the textile industry were sold. However, the company was heavily burdened by credit and suffered from the logistical difficulties of moving production to factories outside the United States. At the end of 1999, Fruit of the Loom Inc. therefore had to initiate bankruptcy proceedings under Chapter 11 of US bankruptcy law in order to develop and implement recovery plans. Farley resigned as CEO in August 1999, but remained Chairman of the Board until 2000. Dennis S. Bookshester from the retail industry succeeded him.
In 2002 Warren Buffett's investment holding Berkshire Hathaway took over the remnants of the insolvent group and thus also the production and marketing of textiles with the brand name "Fruit of the Loom".
offer
The company produces outerwear as an imprint and retail version. The retail line also includes a men's underwear range .
The retail products are intended for retail use and have a printed or embroidered company logo . The quality of materials and workmanship is usually higher than that of the Imprint line. But there are also some products that - apart from the company logo - do not differ.
The imprint products are significantly cheaper and are made for further processing, e.g. For example, by the promotional products industry or to manufacture corporate clothing using textile printing , textile flocking or embroidery. The company logo is only attached to the neck label. Many web shops also sell the products of this line directly to end consumers.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Fruit of the Loom, Inc. Retrieved May 23, 2011 .
- ↑ US textile company Fruit of the Loom at the bankruptcy judge (manager-magazin.de)
- ^ Warren Buffett: Chairman's letter . Berkshire Hathaway. February 28, 2002. Retrieved September 6, 2011.