Home Turf: Hickey Freeman To Manufacture For Polo Blue Label

blue label

Above is the label from one of my favorite sportcoats by Ralph Lauren. It’s one of those updated Ivy models that basically comes with all the heyday details, plus darts thrown in for free.

This particular one, as you can see, is made in Slovakia. Now that doesn’t bother my conscience, but more ardently patriotic consumers will be pleased to hear that Hickey Freeman has signed a contract to begin making Blue Label tailored clothing here in the states. We anxiously await seeing how the shoulders come out. — CC

14 Comments on "Home Turf: Hickey Freeman To Manufacture For Polo Blue Label"

  1. Will this be an improvement over Corneliani, quality- or price-wise? Blue Label does many, many things right, with the exception of slapping side vents on everything (and the prices).

  2. Mitchell S. | May 13, 2014 at 11:54 am |

    This is great news for natural-shoulder tailoring. Grano Retail Investments, the Toronto-based company that bought Hickey Freeman last year, also owns Samuelsohn.

    Grano’s website says that HF is “North America’s largest domestic men’s tailored clothing manufacturing company.”

  3. Who made Ralph’s clothing in the 70s, he’s never owned a factory to my knowledge.

  4. HartMarx Hickey Freeman made the J. Press “Pressidential” for several years beginning 1987.

  5. Some good news (he said with cautious optimism).

    Best Regards,

    Heinz-Ulrich von B.

  6. I think I own that very same jacket. It’s a great coat, and the shoulders are nice and natural, despite not being produced in the US.

  7. Originally Norman Hilton was the mfr & I think part owner of Polo – then by 1972-73 Lanham ofLawrence Mass made Polo tailored clothing & Polo had a small factory outlet store there. lThat was back in the days of models Polo 1, 2, 3 and models called Astaire, Fairbanks, etc. then sometime in the1990s Peerless of Canada took over the Blue Label then it went to Italy.

  8. I’d be surprised if the cuts change at all. RL already has about 10 different patterns (Polo I, Polo II, Polo IV, etc etc). RL as a company owns the paterns of their styles. HF will just be a contract manufacturer and my money would be that they’d construct according to the patterns and requirements of the customer.

  9. JWK
    Lanham, I knew it began with a ‘L”, thanks.

  10. Lanham tailored clothing was the best Polo ever & our trip to the little Polo Outlet Store in Lawrence Mass in the early 1980s was a hoot considering the expansion of that business to what it is today. Back when Polo sent unsold Polo Store clothing & overruns to the Polo Outlets in Reading Pa, Tannersville Pa & Martinsville WVA those stores were quite a treasure hunt. Reading & Martinsville were actually in old factory buildings, not at all like the specially constructed outlet malls of today.

  11. My favorite sport coat is a 1972 Polo Ralph Lauren sport coat. I purchased it on eBay a few years ago. The quality is excellent.

  12. 1972 jacket is probably Lanham but possibly Norman Hilton, either would be high quality. I got my first Polo tailored clothing in 1973 & it was made by Lanham .

  13. I’d love to see a picture.

  14. This isn’t surprising. Recall Ralph Lauren was in a bit of controversy for making Olympic garb outside the United States. The company committed to making Olympic clothing here in the U.S. This, very well, could be an outcrop of that made in America commitment.

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