Jockey International History

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The Company Description of Its Time

Jockey International, Inc. is a privately held company, founded in 1876, and historical descriptions describe it as a leading manufacturer and marketer of apparel products sold in major department and specialty stores in more than 120 countries around the world. Headquarters are in Kenosha, Wisconsin; the company employs over 5,000 people around the world; and its stated commitments are quality, comfort, fashion and innovation. The product ranges named across the filing are underwear, socks, thermals, sleepwear, activewear, sportswear and loungewear, in men's, women's and children's ranges - the subject of this profile is garment construction and company history, and the copy below stays on those facts.

From Cooper Underwear to the Jockey Brief

In 1900 the brothers incorporated as the Cooper Underwear Company and began producing White Cat underwear; the new mill that manufactured White Cat union suits was completed in 1902, on the location that still serves as the company's longtime headquarters. In 1912 the patented Cooper union suit, branded as the Kenosha Klosed Krotch, rose to the top of the underwear market and sold faster than it could be produced, and illustrator Joseph C. Leyendecker created the Man on the Bag image, a staple of brand identity. Arthur Kneibler joined in 1928 to head sales and marketing; in 1929 the company became Cooper's, Inc. and developed the Singleton, a new-style union suit packaged in cellophane bags - a first in the underwear trade and a selling point in self-service stores.

The defining product arrived from a picture. In 1934 Kneibler received a postcard from the French Riviera showing a man in a brief-style swimsuit, and that postcard inspired the creation of the Jockey brief. When Cooper's began selling the Jockey short on a larger scale in 1935, Chicago's Marshall Field & Company sold out its stock of 600 packages by noon and sold 12,000 more in the following weeks; the Jockey Y-Front brief was invented later that year and became the company's most sought-after item, followed by the Jockey Midway brief. Cooper's signed its first international license agreement, with the Canadian J.R. Moodie company, in 1936; in 1938 it hosted one of the first underwear fashion shows, and in 1939 a Cooper's salesman invented a countertop dispenser to organise sizes and styles.

The Brand Era and Later Product Lines

The 1940s added symbols and distribution craft: sculptor Frank Hoffman produced the Jockey Boy figure; endorsements from star athletes began in 1946, among the first being Babe Ruth; and in 1947 the Jockey brand name was stitched into the waistband for the first time - a construction detail that became a branding standard. Cooper's advertised in the first issue of Sports Illustrated in 1954, introduced Jockey Skants briefs, its first foray into fashion underwear, in 1958, and bought its first television advertising the same era. The Jockey Low Rise brief was born in 1961 and became a huge success in Europe; the Half-boy trademark arrived the same year, and the Jockey Life Low Rise brief reached the United States in 1965.

The company name caught up with the brand in stages: Coopers, Inc. became Jockey Menswear, Inc. in 1971 and Jockey International, Inc. in 1972. Sportswear grew alongside the core range - by 1975 the Jockey Sportswear line accounted for one third of company sales - and the Elance collection launched in 1976. Donna Wolf Steigerwaldt took the helm in 1978; Jockey for Her launched in 1982 and its hosiery in 1988; the Life brand was developed for Wal-Mart in 1996; the first website launched in 1997 and Jockey.com retail followed in 1999. Debra Steigerwaldt Waller succeeded her mother as Chairman and CEO in 2001, the year of the No Panty Line Promise launch; the 3D-Innovations line followed from a 2004 development mission to 2006-2007 launches; the Jockey Swirl icon and the Jockey Being Family citizenship initiative arrived in 2005; and in June 2015 the company announced men's and women's casual footwear as a new licensed category, partnering with The Eastman Group on casual footwear, slippers, flip flops and athleisure styles. The audience brand pages kept in this directory - the Jockey brand for women, for men and for children in the Clothes Guide brands sections - are linked from this page exactly as the historical record linked them, alongside the underwear guides.

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