London Fog was once one of the most iconic outerwear brands in America. At one point they had the raincoat market so cornered that the FTC opened an investigation to see if they had a monopoly on the market. But through private equity acquisitions, the brand became saddled with debt, becoming more of a debt vehicle than a coat company. #fashionhistory #londonfog #trenchcoat #thrifting #privateequity

Did you know that in the 1970s, two out of every three raincoats sold in America were made by London Fog? The brand actually had the raincoat market so cornered that the SEC opened an investigation to see if they'd created a monopoly. But chances are, you haven't thought about London Fog in years, and there's a reason for that. So let's talk about how the American Dream killed one of the greatest brands of the 20th century. In 1923, a 16 year old named Israel Izzy Myers started working at London Town Clothing Company, a menswear shop in Baltimore. He fell in love with the business, but a few years later, the Great Depression hit, and the owners of London Town were gonna close the doors. But Izzy took a wild risk. He scraped together everything he had and he bought the company outright. Making it through the Great Depression, he became one of the top menswear shops in Baltimore, becoming especially known for his high quality outerwear, and that put him on the radar of the US government. During World War II, the government gave London town a contract to produce 10,000 raincoats for the US Navy. And in hindsight, this was the single most important thing to happen to the brand. By turning their efforts to raincoat, it gave Izzy an opportunity to put years of research and development into making the best raincoat possible. And when the war ended, he took that expertise and did something no brand had ever done before. In 1951, he partnered with DuPont to produce a completely new waterproof fabric. Three years later, the London Fog main coat debuted at Sachs Fifth Avenue. A daycrown cotton blend coat with a removable liner designed to keep you dry no matter the condition. It sold out immediately. As it spread through department's resignation wide, London Fog was becoming a household name. And when Izzy Sun Jonathan took over the company in 1969, he took it to the stratosphere. He officially renamed the company from London Town to London Fog and expanded the product offering to include luggage, eyewear, kids apparel, and wool overcoats. But most importantly, he hired Gilbert advertising to run marketing. And together, they produced some of the most iconic ad campaigns the world of fashion had ever seen. By the mid 70s, the brand had 98% brand recognition, second to only Levi's in fashion surveys. They were the best selling raincoat in America by a long shot with nearly 70% of all raincoats sold carrying the London Fog name. - Name another raincoat. - And this popularity had private investors salivating. In 1976, Innerco, a St. Louis investment firm, gave Jonathan an offer to buy the company outright. So he took it and why wouldn't he? The brand was at its peak, the price was right, and he was still able to stay on to run the company. But then Innerco ran into financial trouble and to save themselves, they sold London Fog to the highest bidder who then took the company and sold it to the next highest bidder. And each time it changed hands, the new owner borrowed against the brand to finance the deal, which settled the company with debt. This got so bad that by 1993, the debt had ballooned to $425 million. And that's when they brought in Arnie Cohen. Fresh off being ousted as the president of J. Crew, Arnie came in with a slew of risky ideas which he had hoped would revive the company, but backfired horribly. He moved headquarters from Baltimore to Connecticut, laid off 1,000 workers, closed five plants, moved manufacturing overseas, and limited department stores' ability to run promotions on their products, all while they were still selling the same products in their own outlet stores at a discount. And just 11 months later, Cohen was out. The C-suite became a revolving door and in 1999, London Fog filed for bankruptcy. Now you can still buy a London Fog coat today, but it's made overseas and probably hiding in a back corner rack somewhere at Macy's. A far cry from selling out at SACS.