H M X Tailored history

Hart Schaffner & Marx responded in 1897 by running national advertisements for its products and began selling off-the-rack suits through a variety of distributors.

In 1917 the company introduced the first tropical worsted suits.

1926: Wallach's, a large New York-based clothing chain, is acquired.

1927: Chicago retail clothier Baskin is acquired.

1967: Jaymar-Ruby is acquired.

1970: Antitrust suit against company leads to consent degree barring any further acquisitions, without court approval, for ten years.

In September 1979, nearly a year before the expiration of the consent decree, Hart Schaffner & Marx acquired Intercontinental Apparel under special agreement for $2.9 million.

When the terms of the consent decree expired in June 1980, Hart Schaffner & Marx, with 275 retail outlets, immediately embarked on an acquisition binge.

1982: Kuppenheimer Manufacturing Company, retailer of inexpensive suits, is acquired for $25.8 million.

These efforts, which ate up more than $41 million in earnings by 1987, went $10 million over budget and yielded far less than the projected $12 million annual savings.

By 1990 impatient investors had begun to abandon Hartmarx, beating its share price to 18, about half of what it had been only three years earlier.

In January 1992 the company suspended dividends for the first time in 53 years.

In response, Hartmarx's management began a massive restructuring of the business, including the divestment of all of its retail operations by 1995.

In November 1998 Hartmarx acquired the wholesale apparel business of Pusser's Ltd., including the Pusser's of the West Indies line of nautical and tropical sportswear and outerwear.