Bass Men's Fashion Brand

The company name is G.H. Bass & Co., but the brand name is often abbreviated as Bass. G.H. Bass & Co. is an American footwear brand founded by George Henry Bass in 1876. Discover an American heritage of innovation, quality and durability from G.H. Bass & Co., in men's and women's shoes including loafers, oxfords, boots and more. In addition to footwear, the brand provides clothing - a second string worth noting, because Bass belongs among the men's fashion brands, not only among shoe names.

George Henry Bass (b. Wilton, Maine, 1843) began to work in 1876 in the shoemaking business as junior partner in E.P. Packard & Co. in Wilton. By 1879 he became the sole owner, and changed the company name to G.H. Bass & Co. in 1887 - with the name change dated to 1887. In 1906 the first Bass moccasin made is the "Bass Moccasin Cruiser", designed to be a light and flexible shoe worn by woodsmen: the product that turned a Maine shoemaking business into a name woodsmen, and then generations of loafer wearers, would know.

From Maine Shoemaking to the G-III Apparel Group

The ownership record is a three-sale chain. In 1978, Chesebrough-Pond's Inc (Greenwich, Connecticut) purchased G.H. Bass & Co.; they sold it to PVH Corp. in 1987. In November 2013 G.H. Bass was purchased from PVH by the G-III Apparel Group. Each link matters to a researcher: the Chesebrough-Pond's years place Bass inside a consumer-products house, the PVH years inside an apparel corporation - the links point onward to the PVH and G-III Apparel Group profiles - and the G-III purchase of November 2013 is the last ownership change in the chain.

Read as a buying guide, the Bass record teaches a shopper what the name promises. A heritage of innovation, quality and durability is cashed out in specific constructions: the moccasin, beginning with the light, flexible Cruiser of 1906 made for woodsmen, and the loafer- oxford- and boot-making that grew from it. A man comparing a Bass loafer with a fashion shoe built for one season is comparing different intentions: Bass shoes descend from working footwear designed to flex and last outdoors, and the range - loafers, oxfords, boots and more, for men and women - still reads as variations on that durable, moccasin-rooted idea.

Reading This Bass Record

This page's navigation and More to Explore list point onward to the Men's Fashion Brands index and its second and third pages, the Fashion Designer Directory, the popular brands section, and the shopping, retail, wholesale, buyers and news areas, along with the PVH and G-III Apparel Group profile links. The official G.H. Bass & Co. site is linked in References.

Bass, under B in the Men's Fashion Brands directory: G.H. Bass & Co., founded by George Henry Bass in Wilton, Maine in 1876, sole owner by 1879, maker of the first Bass Moccasin Cruiser in 1906, sold to Chesebrough-Pond's in 1978, to PVH in 1987, and to the G-III Apparel Group in November 2013 - an American footwear heritage of innovation, quality and durability, with clothing alongside the shoes.

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