Fruit of the Loom - Fashion Company Profile
Fruit of the Loom is the underwear and casualwear giant founded in 1851 by the Knight brothers in Rhode Island - owner of trademark number 418, registered in 1871 and older than Coca-Cola or the light bulb, maker of the underwear, t-shirts and fleece America wears by the multipack, and a Berkshire Hathaway company since 2002.
Company Snapshot
- Status
- Operating - one of the world's leading underwear and casualwear brands, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway since 2002
- Type
- Subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (acquired in 2002)
- Headquarters
- Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States
- Founded
- 1851, in Rhode Island, United States, by the Knight brothers (B.B. & R. Knight Corporation); the Fruit of the Loom trademark was registered in 1871
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Company Profile
The record below - the 1851 founding, the fruit paintings that named the brand and the Berkshire and Russell acquisition years, with the company's own history graphic - is kept in full on the history page. Current products are on the brand's own site, linked above; the shop box covers Fruit of the Loom products sold through Amazon and eBay.
With 160 years' experience in manufacturing quality textiles at the filing's count, Fruit of the Loom grew to become one of the world's leading clothing brands - the basics business at global scale, built on cotton cloth first and branded garments after. The basics themselves - underwear, t-shirts and the everyday cotton wardrobe - are described on this page in product terms, as across the directory. What the filing emphasises instead is continuity: a mill company from 1851 whose painted-fruit name, borrowed from a customer's daughter's artwork, outlasted the mill era entirely and became the brand under which the cloth is still sold.
Fruit of the Loom History
The earlier record for this company - its history, past brand line-ups, figures and photographs from the periods described - is kept on a separate page for historical reference.
Fruit of the Loom History & Historical Profile →Common Questions
When was Fruit of the Loom founded?
In 1851 by two brothers in Rhode Island, USA, when the B.B and R. Knight Corporation opened its first mill; the brand name was born five years later, inspired by fruit paintings by a customer's daughter, in the historical record.
Why is its trademark notable?
Registered in 1871 as trademark number 418, it is one of the world's oldest trademarks - older than Coca-Cola, the light bulb and the paper bag, in the historical record.
Who owns Fruit of the Loom, as recorded?
Berkshire Hathaway Group, which acquired it in 2002; Fruit of the Loom later acquired the Russell Corporation and VF Corporation's lingerie division, in the historical record.
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