1851... A HISTORY OF EXCELLENCE
	Clothes speak volumes about the times we have lived through. Arrow's rich past is a reflection of the American fashion over the course of not one, but three centuries. From a one-room workshop in Troy, NY in 1851 to an international corporation with distribution in more than 90 countries, it is too fine a heritage to be forgotten. After more than 150 years, we salute all that has gone before us - the rise of "soft dressing", the fall of the detachable collar, the birth of the sport shirt and the influence of military uniforms. We witness the birth of sports - and with it, sportswear. Through the eyes of the Arrow Collar Man, we see exactly how fashion reflects and soothes the times we live through. Each decade had its challenges. Each era its fondest memories. From this vantage point, we look forward to a new century of understanding the fabric of people's lives and shaping the fashions they follow.
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	THE EARLY YEARS
	What defines a gentleman? For the American man of the 19th century, the answer was revealed in the way he dressed. In cities and towns throughout the country, men of society were called upon to wear formal attire much of the time, silk top hats, gloves, long frock coats that, when closed, offered a small glimpse of a torturously starched stand-up collar. It was a way of dressing that seemed to punish more than praise the masculine form. No wonder many young men headed west in search of adventure, gold, or both. Embracing a life of freedom and individuality, some saddled up while others rode the rails, leaving behind the restrictions of the Victorian era.
	Those who stayed behind favored a life filled with finer pleasures: telephones, electricity, theater, music and other events that each required an appropriate way of dressing. In 1825, Mrs. Montague of Troy, NY- a wife whose husband's dirty shirts drove her crazy- changed the way American men would dress for the next 100 years. A blacksmith by trade, Mr. Montague demanded a clean white shirt every evening when attending to social activities. One day, Mrs. Montague, tired of laundering, cut off the collars of her husband's shirts, since only the collar was soiled, bound the edges and attached strings to hold them in place. The idea soon caught on. Not just in Troy, but across the country. For Arrow, it all began in a one- room workshop in the town of Troy, NY. This is where Maullin & Blanchard, the originators of the business of Cluett, Peabody & Co., later known as the manufacturers of Arrow collars, started a small business. Within a few short years, the company, changing names a few times along the way, quickly became one of the most successful in the country. Dozens of shapes and styles became popular with names such as Coachman No. 2, Brockly and Chalco. Soon, the main manufacturing plant in Troy stretched over 357,000 square feet. It was the largest collar, cuff and shirt factory in the world. In 1897, President McKinley visited the plant and was astonished by the scale and scope of such a well-organized and modern factory. Heritage 1900's

	THE 1900's A NEW BALL GAME
	The radio, the automobile, the airplane, baseball.the more inventions that popped up, the more the American man reinvented himself. Of course there were those who clung to convention, wore frock coats and hated the advent of the motor car. These were the men who changed their clothes - and their stand-up shirt collars - several times a day and again at night. Stiff upper lip was the creed they followed. But a new man was in the making. As the 1900's saw the increased availability of ready-to-wear clothing, the "sack suit" - the forerunner of the modern business suit - was being worn everywhere. The jacket fell straight and wide with narrow lapels.
	The trousers were narrow and cuffed. Young men of the growing urban middle class saw it as a sort of uniform, free from the constraints of convention. This new man was the Arrow Collar Man. In 1905 Charles Connolly, the advertising manager for Cluett, Peabody and Co., hired a commercial fashion illustrator by the name of J.C. Leyendecker to create a brand new image for Arrow. His creation was the Arrow Collar Man. A good-looking fellow, clear-eyed and dignified, Leyendecker's nattily dressed gentleman quickly became the symbol of the modern American man. He appeared in Arrow advertisements everywhere - newspapers, magazines, car cards and billboards. When he introduced a new Arrow Collar, men lined up outside storefronts across America to be among the first to have the latest style. Meanwhile, the working class men, who worked in factories, built the railroads, or toiled in coal mines, wore clothes of canvas, duck, corduroy or leather, designed for durability. These were the rugged no-nonsense garments that would, decades later, be the inspiration for a style of fashion that was, and continues to be, uniquely American. The Early Years 1910's

	THE 1910's RAGTIME TO WARTIME
	Cities grew as the American man flocked to urban areas to find his fortune. European immigrants poured through Ellis Island in record numbers. Women gained the right to vote and The Ziegfeld Follies kept everyone entertained. Even as the nation was thrown into wartime, men still dressed by rigidly defined standards of correctness. Staid businessmen clung to high-button shoes, long overcoats and starched high collars. White shirts with detachable collars were worn for all business and social events and Arrow's business boomed with 400 different collar styles!
	But when the Doughboys returned from war, they had different priorities, new ways of thinking. The young men of the day sought comfort. They wanted a wardrobe that reflected the same functional ease as their uniforms. They preferred shirts with soft attached collars. It wasn't long before The Arrow Collar Man did too. While American men admired the Arrow Collar Man for his sense of style, American women adored him. So popular was this well appointed figure of Leyendecker's imagination, he actually got fan mail, mostly from women. He even got marriage proposals! At the height of his popularity the letters ran nearly a thousand a week - more than silent film star Rudolph Valentino. Thanks to Leyendecker's visionary ads, sales of Arrow Collars and shirts rose to $32 million by 1918. Demand for Arrow collars internationally began in 1912 with an order from Mexico. It wasn't long before Arrow collars from Troy, NY, were being sold in Cuba, Puerto Rico, various countries in South America, as well as Scandinavia and Holland. 1900's 1920's

	THE 1920's DRESSING SOFT
	It was called the Roaring Twenties, The Jazz Age, The Golden Age of Sports. To the American man, it was a decade of indulgence and prosperity, of bathtub gin and bootleggers, of recklessness and mobsters, of flappers dancing the Charleston all night long. It was the first time in American history that youth was developing its own culture, and fashion followed suit. Wide-legged pants called Oxford Bags took over the college campus scene in 1925. The Prince of Wales provided much of the inspiration of the day.
	The heir to the English throne had a passion for "dressing soft" which struck a chord in youthful American men - white bucks, navy blazers, tweed jackets, grey flannel suits, Fair Isle sweaters, and, of course, the soft-collared shirt. When American soldiers returned home from World War I, they had grown used to shirts with soft collars already attached. Yet throughout the early Twenties, the Arrow Collar Man enjoyed more fame and good fortune. Women continued to adore him and wrote him letters as if he were a real person. In 1923, he was the subject of a Broadway musical called "Helen of Troy, N.Y." By the mid-1920's, 4 million collars with the Arrow label were being manufactured every week. Among the thousands of domestic shipments leaving Troy, it was not unusual to see cartons addressed to Siam (now Thailand), Belgian Congo (now Zaire), Java and Batavia (Dutch East Indies, known today as Jakarta, Indonesia). In a few short years, American men who wore stiff, starched, stand-up collars were considered old-fashioned. The younger generation wanted something softer, yet presentable. Arrow responded with Golden Arrow Collars. But try as he might, The Arrow Collar Man was in trouble. By the end of the decade, a radical change was in order. It came in the form of an energetic salesman from Chicago who eventually became president. His name was C.R. Palmer. His idea - to create a line of Arrow shirts. He believed that the millions of men who had been buying Arrow collars for so many years could be persuaded to buy Arrow shirts. The claim, "Only Arrow Shirts have the famous Arrow Collar" quickly became the advertising slogan of the day. As the American man embraced "soft dressing", so did Arrow. The success of shirts gave the company the foresight and confidence to take on new challenges - underwear, knit shirts, slacks, shorts. Then, on October 29th, 1929, the stock market crashed. 1910's 1930's

	THE 1930's HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD!
	The country was in the middle of the Great Depression. Everywhere businesses were failing, banks were closing and jobs were scarce. But at the movies, people found a way to escape by watching big screen stars like Clark Gable, Cary Grant and Fred Astaire. Amidst all this stylish entertainment, a kind of casual elegance emerged. Truth be told, the vogue for outdoor sports and leisure activities encouraged men to shed constricting business suits for less stuffy garb. Tennis, golf and skiing all brought new demands on the American man's closet. In short, he was desperate for something to wear.
	Arrow came to his rescue by introducing loose-fitting shirts with open collars and straight-cut bottoms. Slacks, shorts and tennis shirts completed the sportswear look. Arrow's new pre-shrunk patented "Sanforized" shirts with fused, softly turned-down collars were available in patterns, stripes and pastels. "Remember," reads an ad from 1930, "90% of the style of any shirt is in the collar." Thanks to the influence of English tailoring, men's clothes draped. Jackets were cut with a nipped-in waist and broad shoulders. Trousers were deeply pleated with a slight taper toward the cuff. As the decade came to a close and the economy was back on track, fabrics flowed with a new casual elegance. The decade of the Thirties saw continued international demand for Arrow shirts. A franchise was signed in Australia, and the Arrow name became a status symbol in many far away lands. 1920's 1940's

	THE 1940's THE MILITARY MAN
	The American man was at war, fighting on both fronts. Spare moments were spent gazing at pinup pictures of Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable. It was a war that would change America forever. It even changed the way men dress: parachute cloth, Eisenhower jackets, flight jackets, t-shirts (once considered GI underwear), chino pants, duffel coats, pea coats, sailor pants and aviator sunglasses. Arrow agents for Great Britain were bombed during the London Blitz of 1940, but reopened their office immediately in the western section of the city, re-stocking from Arrow's Canadian factory.
	An Arrow inter-office memo reported during the war: "Our agent for Norway has escaped after the invasion of his country by way of Siberia and Japan. He is in the United States now, marking time until he can return." Back home, women went to work in factories that operated 'round the clock. Businesses did their part too. Arrow advertisements urged customers to buy war bonds and donate blood at the Red Cross. "These higher-ups among the sailors," reads an Arrow advertisement, "look as if they'd been turned out by swanky custom tailors," and then hints that the crisp white shirts officers wear just might be made by Arrow. It was true - the company had produced shirts for military uniforms. A lanky Frank Sinatra made bobbysoxers swoon at the Paramount. Saxophonist Charlie Parker turned jazz upside down and daring young men wore ridiculously oversized Zoot suits with pegged legs and an extra-long watch chain. But fashions in the Forties will be remembered most for a standard set by silver screen stars such as Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart and Jimmy Stewart, a casual elegance admired as much today as it was more than fifty years ago. 1930's 1950's

	THE 1950's SURBURBAN LIVING
	An overriding sense of uniformity, of wanting to fit in, directed the American man in the Fifties. He was living the American dream: two kids, a wife, a house in the suburbs and a company job. He commuted by train and dressed like all his neighbors - grey flannel suit, skinny tie, felt hat and overcoat. The jacket of the day had natural shoulders, slim lines and narrow lapels. Businessmen wore so-called "Ivy League" shirts with button-down collars. (Arrow made them in long and short-sleeve styles.) And, whether there was anything inside but the daily paper, carrying a briefcase was all part of the look.
	At night, everyone gathered around the television set to watch I Love Lucy or Gunsmoke. Everyone had a car too. Maybe a Chevy Impala, a Buick Roadmaster, or a Cadillac sporting long tail fins. Cars were all about status, freedom and identity. On weekends, a man got to kick back and shed his suits for a splashy sport shirt and slacks in daring colors. Such gorgeous plumage, a 1952 Arrow shirt ad declared, would put romance into a fellow's "loaf life". Shorter working hours and more money to spend gave millions of American men more time to get outdoors, travel and enjoy sports. For Arrow, this meant expanding its line of sport shirts to include slacks, Bermuda shorts, zipper jackets and beachwear. A new line of shirts - Golden Arrow - was launched which offered men new fabrications, such as rayon flannel in handsome, richly colored plaids. It was just what the suburban man wanted. 1940's 1960's

	THE 1960's FEELING GROOVY
	For the American man, the Sixties was a compelling reason to loosen up and live. It was the age of rebellion. London's Carnaby Street was fashion headquarters for the swinging set. But all across America, especially in California, counter culture hippies, who were protesting the war in Vietnam, wore tie-dyed t-shirts, flowered shirts, hip-hugger pants and sandals. It was an infectious decade. Its exuberance infused businessmen's closets with color and pattern, especially men's shirts. By 1968, less than half the shirts Arrow sold were in white. In their place, were boldly striped shirts with white collars, vivid colors and sport shirts in rich, new patterns.
	1950's 1970's

	THE 1970's DISCOS AND DESIGNERS
	The end of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal marked a turning point. For the American man, it was the end of innocence and optimism. But you wouldn't know it by the way he dressed. Just mention the Seventies and the memory is flooded with images of platform shoes, disco dancing, shag haircuts and the Bee Gees. In 1975, twelve million polyester leisure suits were sold. Ice cream colors were in. In 1978, John Travolta starred in the movie Saturday Night Fever and became part of pop mythology.
	Clothes were heavily influenced by fads. Every garment from the past that had achieved classic status was discarded. But color was cool. In fact, so much in demand was color and pattern in the American man's closet, that, in the early Seventies, Arrow amusingly took to calling itself "the colorful white shirt company." Floral prints were all the rage. Arrow responded by coming out with shirts in every conceivable floral design, especially "old-fashioned, Grandmother-inspired" patterns. But there was nothing old-fashioned about the fit. The shirt of the Seventies was newly tapered to a trim "European" fit. Arrow ad copy boldly asserted, "If you're fat and forty, forget it." The photograph showed six young men, all with long hair, lined up wearing floral print shirts with 4 1/2" collars and "a taper that's measured in ounces, not pounds." Designer jeans were next to appear on the fashion scene, skintight and straight from France. In 1971, the president of Cluett Peabody, the parent company of Arrow, announced that three separate divisions - export sales, Arrow licensing and foreign operations - would now be grouped together under one umbrella, Cluett Peabody International. It was also decided that, under this new division, technicians would be sent on location around the world to instruct the new licensees on Arrow standards, production techniques, packaging and quality control. New licensees to join the Arrow family included Benelux (the economic union of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), France, Ecuador, Indonesia and Pakistan. 1960's 1980's

	THE 1980's THE AGE OF AMBITION
	In the Eighties, the American man was a die-hard traditionalist. He was living in an age when everything that happened - the AIDS epidemic, the crumbling of the Berlin Wall, the invention of fax machines - had an economic angle. Somewhere, there was a deal to be made, a point to be scored, a game to be won. Business was sounding like sports, and sports had become big business. Perhaps the only thing the American man was absolutely clear on was the way to dress. High-powered Wall Street executives opted for the elegance of designers such as Giorgio Armani or Gianni Versace.
	The new silhouette was soft and unstructured; the fabrics were impeccable. A whole new level of elegance was finding its place in the American man's sense of masculinity. As yesterday's hippies became yuppies and yuppies became banking investors, Arrow wisely introduced a refined, polished all-cotton dress shirt for work. And for play, Arrow launched a new, rugged line of all-American sportswear. Like the times, Arrow looked to the past and embraced traditions that had begun decades ago. The renowned sports artist LeRoy Neiman took on the challenge of illustrating the Arrow Man, a duty that had not been performed since J.C. Leyendecker's illustrations stopped appearing in the 1930's. As the pre-eminent sports artist of his generation, Neiman's art brought a new exuberance and confidence to the image of the Arrow man. He helped to define who the Arrow Man was and who he was becoming. The Eighties was a banner year internationally for Arrow. Through licensing agreements, the label extended into Yugoslavia, South Africa, Hong Kong, Brazil, Singapore, Egypt and Korea. 1970's 1990's

	THE 1990's THE POST MODERN MAN
	Shirts in all variations - end on end, pinstripe, jaspe effects, jacquards, birdseye, basketweaves and piques - were paired with ties in matching tones. The Nineties was a world always running fast and the American man wanted clothes that would save him time by spanning workdays and evenings out. The Arrow collection, America's Classics, was conceived as a wardrobe for the urban man wherever he lived, sophisticated shirts, sweaters, trousers and jackets that were at his beck and call twenty-four/seven.
	The fitness craze of the Seventies spawned an interest in sportswear that hasn't yet stopped growing. In the Nineties, advances in fiber and fabric technology contributed greatly to this serge. But the true driving force of the sportswear business was the American man's quest to feel relaxed and casual. To that end, Arrow responded with America's Sport - a collection of knit shirts, beefy sweaters, crisp cotton shirts and khaki cargo pants. American clothes became the global wardrobe. More international in attitude than ever before, the Arrow Man kept growing. By the end of the decade, international affiliates included Portugal, India, the Middle East, Australia, and Hong Kong. 1980's Arrow Today

	The 2000's THE GLOBAL FUTURE
	A brand is often the deciding factor in a purchase decision. Great brands inspire loyalty through customer satisfaction. A brand is a promise kept, since it is an implied guarantee of having made the correct choice. Great brands are those that consistently deliver on their promise. Once launched, a brand takes on a life of its own, which is why it is necessary to monitor and nurture the brand carefully. At Arrow, our brand identity has been cultivated for over 150 years.
	The Arrow Company remains committed to providing quality, fashionable merchandise throughout it's global channels of distribution. At Arrow, through research and development, we are constantly addressing the changing needs and desires of the consumer, resulting in brand awareness and consumer loyalty. Arrow continues to represent great American values such as freedom, adventure, individual expression, and style throughout the world. Heritage