Men's Woolrich Fashion Brand

Woolrich offers men's clothing and women's clothing that has embraced the outdoor lifestyle since 1830. Woolrich, Inc., founded in 1830 by John Rich and Daniel McCormick, is the oldest manufacturer of outdoor wear in the United States. That seniority claim - the oldest in its field in the country - frames everything else on this page: a menswear collection with a head start of nearly two centuries.

The company was founded for the purpose of manufacturing fabric for the wives of hunters, loggers and trappers. Woolrich began, in other words, as a fabric maker for the families of working outdoorsmen, not as a clothing brand for the men themselves - the garments came later.

The Buffalo Check Shirt and the Outdoor Clothing Line

In 1850 Woolrich introduced The Buffalo Check Shirt. The legend has it that the designer of this iconic fabric owned a herd of buffalo, so he named the black and red checkered fabric after his beloved herd. Today, the buffalo check fabric enjoys worldwide popularity. The black and red check is the brand's signature, legend and all, and its worldwide popularity is its present condition.

In the 1880s Woolrich began to make clothing for recreation and leisure. Woolrich began producing a line of wool shirts, pants, jackets and caps. The menswear collection has grown since. That 1880s turn - from work fabric to leisure clothing, in wool shirts, pants, jackets and caps - is the founding moment of the men's range this profile is filed under.

Competition, Camping and the 2013 Shoe Partnership

After camping grew popular in the 1970s, Woolrich suffered in the 1980s due to other companies wanting to compete. For many years, their competitors have been L.L.Bean, Eddie Bauer, The Timberland Company, The North Face, Patagonia and Columbia Sportswear. The competitor list names six rivals that define the outdoor field Woolrich has shared since the camping boom.

In September 2013, Woolrich partnered with Portland Product Werks (PPW) to manufacture shoes, a new line for Woolrich. A shoe line, added by partnership in 2013, is the last dated event in this record - a fabric company of 1830 still adding product categories more than 180 years later. The brand's official men's site is linked in References below.

For a men's researcher, the through-line of this record is wool and the outdoors: a company founded to manufacture fabric, an iconic wool check introduced twenty years later, a wool clothing line of shirts, pants, jackets and caps built for recreation and leisure in the 1880s, and a menswear collection that has grown since while the brand has embraced the outdoor lifestyle continuously since 1830. Each dated step builds on the fabric step before it, which is why they are presented in that order here.

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