Blair Corporation
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| Private | |
| Industry | Mail order, retail |
| Founded | 1910 |
| Headquarters | Warren, Pennsylvania, USA |
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Key people
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Marisa Smith, President |
| Products | Men's and Women's Clothing, Household goods |
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Number of employees
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2000 (2008) |
| Parent | Orchard Brands |
| Website | www.blair.com |
Blair Corporation is one of America's largest direct marketing mail order retailers, selling clothing and household goods. Founded in 1910 as New Process Company by John Leo Blair, the company is celebrating its 100th year in business. Blair is headquartered in Warren, Pennsylvania, and has warehousing and distribution operations in nearby Irvine, Pennsylvania, as well as a call center in Erie, PA. The company is well known for its retail catalogs, which are sent to millions of customers in the United States. While most business is done through mail-order, phone, or online, Blair also maintains retail stores in Warren and Grove City, PA. Blair is the largest employer in Warren County, Pennsylvania, where it is based. Blair employs around 2300 associates.
Blair was founded in 1910 by John L. Blair, who originally took up an offer to sell raincoats. After several unsuccessful attempts at selling the coats, he was asked by an undertaker if he had any attractive black raincoats. He didn't, but it gave him an idea. The idea John had was to take advantage of the relatively new process of rubber vulcanization to adhere an attractive black wool fabric to the outside of a rubber raincoat, with an inner lining of a Scottish plaid. His classmate agreed to begin producing just such a coat and supplied him initially with 1200 coats, which were purchased almost immediately. He actually had to send out letters of apology until new coats could be produced. Samples of his letters from as early as 1910 still exist.
With the help of his father and siblings, John mailed 10,000 letters to undertakers across America and the coat quickly saturated the market. He expanded with letters to ministers and businessmen, and he also expanded his product line. For the first few years his business was known as New Process Rubber Company, and by 1916 it was changed to New Process Company.
New Process Company went public in 1924. By the mid-1980s, New Process was also said to be the largest publicly held direct-marketer of clothing and home products in the United States, and also had the oldest continually traded stock on the . Murray McComas, CEO at that time, appeared in a filmed interview on the floor of the America Stock Exchange to discuss the unique position New Process Company found itself in. In 1989, the name of the company was changed to Blair.
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