Haggar Clothing
| Privately held | |
| Industry | Manufacturing |
| Founded | 1926 |
| Founder | Joseph M. Haggar |
| Headquarters | Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
|
Number of locations
|
80 |
|
Area served
|
United States Canada Mexico |
|
Key people
|
Michael Stitt (CEO) |
| Products | Men's clothing |
| Website | www.haggar.com |
Haggar Clothing Co. is a manufacturer of men's clothing based in Dallas, Texas.
Haggar markets clothing in the United States, Canada, Mexico.
The Haggar Clothing Company was founded in 1926 by Lebanese immigrant Joseph Marion Haggar in a one-room office in the Santa-Fe Building in Dallas, Texas. JM Haggar personally purchased all materials, supervised production and handled all sales. The first line of pants he produced was named “Keen Built” after the popular phrase of the time meaning “superior make”. By 1929 he occupied two floors and employed 250 people. Haggar followed the motto of ”Making a good product and selling it at a fair price”, and within a few years, the Haggar Company employed 500 workers and was on track to produce 75,000 pairs of pants annually.
In 1933, Haggar changed manufacturing methods to follow Henry Ford’s Straight Line Production method of automobile manufacturing. The operators would work on a single unit rather than bundles. The single units were then passed along by conveyors to the next operator. Productivity increased and manufacturing costs decreased.
By 1938, Haggar transitioned from a local company to one with national reach. Haggar employed a nationwide sales organization and ran a national advertising campaign.
By 1940, Haggar created the first pre-cuffed pant. The resulting company growth promoted a move to a new headquarters and modern sewing production plant on Lemmon Avenue in Dallas, TX.
In 1942, JM Haggar kept his factories running 24 hours a day supplying clothing for the U.S. military. By the end of the war, more than 10 million garments were produced in Haggar factories. It was during this same time, Haggar debuted its first print ad in Life Magazine. The ad was named “The Haggar Harmony Chart,” and became a popular merchandising tool; as the ad depicted how men could maximize their wardrobe by mixing and matching shirts and jackets with multiple Haggar slacks. By the end of the decade, Haggar had become the largest producer and marketer of slacks in the world.
In 1950, Haggar became the first men's apparel brand to advertise on national television by advertising slacks on the Today Show. In 1952, Haggar introduced "Forever Prest", the forerunner of wrinkle free pants. The advertising for this pant featured Mickey Mantle and began Haggar's long running association with professional sports and athletes. This included outfitting the slacks to the U.S. Olympic teams in 1956 and again in 1960, and its current day sponsorships of the gold enshrinee jacket to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the navy enshrinee jacket to The Hockey Hall of Fame. In 1963, Haggar became an early sponsor of ABC's “Wide World of Sports”, and also conceived and sponsored a new TV show, "This Week in the NFL" in 1968.
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Wikipedia