Hickey Freeman Factory to Be Sold to Tom James
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The storied Hickey Freeman factory in Rochester, New York, will live to see another day.
On Thursday, New York State Sen. Chuck Schumer and Gov. Kathy Hochul said the 112-year-old factory was being sold to the Tom James Co., one of the last remaining domestic tailored clothing manufacturers.
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Terms were not disclosed but the deal will save nearly 200 jobs in upstate New York.
According to Schumer, he made a personal appeal to Tom James chief executive officer Todd Browne after the factory was put up for sale earlier this year.
“This 112-year-old factory is a Rochester institution, woven into the very fabric of the community,” Schumer said. “The hundreds of skilled Rochester union workers are the beating heart of this operation, and that is why I’ve fought time and again to keep it in business whenever it faced challenges. For the past few months, the future of the iconic factory was uncertain, but after my personal appeal to Tom James Co. CEO Todd Browne, I’m thrilled to announce that he has heeded my call and Tom James intends to officially acquire this beloved Rochester factory this summer — not only providing stability for its 200 world-class union employees, but also adding additional jobs in the coming years.”
When the deal is finalized, the factory will manufacture Tom James clothing as well as lines for other brands. In recent years, 80 percent of the production at the Rochester plant was for labels other than Hickey Freeman, including Brooks Brothers, Todd Snyder, Haspel, Hart Schaffner Marx and J. Press.
Founded in 1966 by Spencer Hays, Tom James Co. is employee-owned and the largest custom clothing manufacturer in the world. Headquartered in Tennessee, the company employs 3,000 workers across 13 factories including nine U.S. factories. Its sister brands include Oxxford Clothes, Coppley, English American, Holland & Sherry, Gitman Brothers and Individualized Shirts.
“Tom James is very excited to welcome the legacy of fine tailoring from Rochester Tailored Clothing into the Tom James family,” Browne said. “Tom James remains firmly committed to preserving and enhancing the art of garment making in the United States. We know of no workforce more qualified to further this mission than the men and women of Rochester Tailored Clothing.”
As reported in March, the factory’s fate was hanging in the balance when the Hickey Freeman license moved in May from Samuelsohn to Peerless Clothing and with it, the production of the collection in Rochester where it had been made for more than a century. The Hickey Freeman label is owned by Authentic Brands Group, which awarded the North American license to Peerless in January. Stephen Granovsky, chief executive officer of Luxury Men’s Apparel Group and Grano Retail, which owns Samuelsohn, Culturata, Lipson Shirtmakers and other brands, had purchased the factory from Doug Williams, the one-time chief of Hart Schaffner Marx and Hickey, in 2013.
Granovsky, in turn, sold the factory last June to Home Leasing, a real estate development firm, which made a deal to build 134 affordable senior housing units on some two-thirds of the 225,000-square-foot, four-story plant site. The development will be renamed Tailor Square and the project is receiving $70 million in funding from the state of New York for the conversion.
As part of the deal, Granovsky signed a long-term lease with Home Leasing to retain 77,000 square feet for the Hickey Freeman Tailored Clothing facility. In June, he said, the plant was renamed Rochester Tailored Clothing.
“Generations of skilled workers have crafted products at this factory that are recognized worldwide for Made in New York quality, style and craftsmanship,” Hochul said. “Thanks to the commitment by Tom James Company, this factory will continue to be a source of employment, high quality clothing and Rochester pride for years to come. An additional thanks to all our partners at the local, state and federal level, along with our friends in labor, for their advocacy and their commitment to keeping this factory open.”
Lynne Fox, international president of Workers United, the union for the employees of the plant, and Gary Bonadonna Jr., the Rochester Regional Joint Board Manager, said in a joint statement, “We appreciate Senator Schumer going to bat for our members once again, and together with the support of Governor Hochul, working to keep the Rochester Tailored Clothing factory in business and our hundreds of skilled members on the job. We look forward to building on the excellent working relationship we have had with Tom James Co., a company that is committed to union manufacturing in America, including now in Rochester. Together we now look forward to a bright future to strengthen and grow the Rochester factory and its workforce.”
The plan, according to Schumer, is to add another 45 jobs over the next five years.
The senator is also working to secure an extension of the Wool Trust Fund, which provides compensation to the domestic suit industry for the competitive disadvantage that results from a “tariff inversion,” where duties on imported finished products are lower than those on domestic products. That funding is set to expire this year.
This is not the first time that Schumer has intervened to save the Rochester factory. In 2009, when its then-parent Hartmarx Corp., declared bankruptcy, threatening the closure of the facility, the senator secured financing from Wells Fargo to ensure it could continue to operate. And in 2012, he was involved in the sale of the factory to Granovsky’s Luxury Men’s Apparel Group.
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