The Legacy Brands Proving American Fashion Is Still a Family Business

Summer winds down, and American fashion goes back to school. Windows fill with navy blazers, barn coats, Oxford shirts and rep ties, the durable kit of domestic prep and proof that a young country can have an old closet. Brooks Brothers opened in 1818, before Queen Victoria took the British throne. Woolrich began producing woolen fabric in Pennsylvania in 1830. Their clothes started as useful goods and became shorthand for a life, which may be the most American fashion story of all.

European houses grew around ateliers and private fittings, but America built its industry on reach. Stateside, the department store and mail-order catalog imposed different demands. A coat had to look desirable and work hard, then come in enough sizes to reach a customer hundreds of miles from Seventh Avenue. Ready-to-wear made taste reproducible, while sportswear gave the same jacket a place at the office and dinner.

The dynasties that emerged from that system are real, though they seldom resemble several generations of designers sharing one studio. Here, succession usually means a professional chief executive manages the company while the family retains authority through private ownership, super-voting shares, board seats or a trust. A founder’s child may still appear in the campaign, yet still hold no power inside the business. The real test is who can choose directors, appoint the chief executive and approve a sale. The companies below show how American fashion families kept control as their labels grew far beyond the generation that built them.