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- All HBS Web
(692)
- News (79)
- Research (543)
- Multimedia (2)
- Faculty Publications (469)
Paul Fireman
By successfully tapping the market for women’s “fashionable” athletic shoes during the nation’s aerobics craze, Fireman took Reebok from $13 million in sales in 1983 to $1.4 billion in sales just five years later. In 1986, Reebok overtook Nike as the top-selling maker... View Details
Keywords: Fabric & Apparel
Elisabeth Claiborne
Founded in 1976, Liz Claiborne joined the Fortune 500 list of the largest industrial companies only a decade later, one of the youngest companies ever to achieve this mark. In 1987, Liz Claiborne had sales in excess of $1 billion. All this success was a result of... View Details
Keywords: Fabric & Apparel
Charles A. Cannon
Cannon pioneered a number of industry advances in cloth towel manufacturing including national consumer advertising, the Cannon trademark sewn into each towel, pastel colors, the wrapping of products in clear plastic, style shows, and matching towel ensembles. Cannon... View Details
Keywords: Fabric & Apparel
- 01 Dec 2010
- News
A Smooth Stretch
HANNA: A yoga business and foundation. Photo courtesy Zobha A dedicated runner until motherhood stood everything on its head, Jamie Hanna (MBA ’98) told Chicago’s examiner.com (September 20, 2010) that by the time she had her second child, “Running didn’t feel good to... View Details
- 12 Feb 2016
- News
Creating Common Ground in Communities of Conflict
catch up,” she says. Questioning the status quo has also inspired Mendhro to launch VIDA, a venture-based ecommerce platform based in San Francisco that connects designers across the globe with producers, to manufacture original apparel... View Details
Keywords: Jill Radsken
- 23 Feb 2021
- Research & Ideas
COVID-19 Shines New Light on Working Conditions in Supply Chains
Tightly packed workers and other weak protections allowed COVID-19 to sweep through American slaughterhouses during the past year, infecting at least 45,000 employees and killing an estimated 240 people. To Harvard Business School Professor Michael Toffel, who has... View Details
Linda J. Wachner
Wachner’s first success in fashion came in the mid-1970s while she was working in Warnaco’s lingerie division, Wagner’s. Perceiving that it was their uncomfortable and unfeminine design that made women “burn their bras,” Wachner redesigned softer, free form bras that... View Details
Keywords: Fabric & Apparel
Diane S. M. von Furstenberg
Von Furstenberg emerged on the fashion scene with three simple black jersey-style silk dresses in 1970. In the denim craze of the seventies, the silk dresses stood out for their elegance and sophistication, and it was upon this basis that von Furstenberg built her... View Details
Keywords: Fabric & Apparel
Ralph Lauren
Lauren built a $1 billion+ fashion business, one of the greatest successes in the last half of the 20th century. He is one of the most influential contemporary designers, responsible for developing the American look and establishing New York City as a rival to Paris.... View Details
Keywords: Fabric & Apparel
Anne Klein
Klein played a major role in re-inventing the fashion industry. She founded Junior Sophisticates, where the clothing had classic lines, and incorporated this look in Anne Klein and Company when it began in 1968. Klein’s unique style of interchangeable separates was... View Details
Keywords: Fabric & Apparel
George F. Johnson
Johnson built a successful shoe company, but his most striking contributions to American capitalism were the progressive labor policies introduced at Endicott-Johnson. His company was the first in the shoe industry to introduce the 8-hour workday, 40-hour workweek, and... View Details
Keywords: Fabric & Apparel
- 25 Sep 2018
- News
Esquel Group Looks to a Robotic Future
- 01 Dec 2016
- News
Alumni Leading Change
doubling down in China, where over half of its workers are based. Yang aspires to introduce new competitive strategies to the entire textile and apparel industry, and to be a leader in positive economic development in China. Esquel is... View Details
Sidney W. Winslow
With the insight he gained while working in his father’s shoe factory, Winslow started his first shoe machine company in 1893, producing leather-buffing machines. With the profits from this business, Winslow combined resources with Gordon McKay and the Goodyear Company... View Details
Keywords: Fabric & Apparel
Elizabeth E. Boit
Boit was the first American woman to establish ownership in the textile industry. She joined forces with Charles N. Winship to establish the Winship, Boit & Company in 1888. While Winship oversaw production, Boit managed the finances and the overall administration... View Details
Keywords: Fabric & Apparel
Philip H. Knight
Knight founded Nike by capitalizing on the fitness craze of the 1970s and 1980s. Through skillful advertising and innovative product development, Knight was able to build a billion dollar business in ten years. View Details
Keywords: Fabric & Apparel
Walter A. Haas
Haas led Levi’s transformation from a family business to a worldwide corporation. Haas introduced a number of innovative employment policies and refused to lay off workers even during the time of the Great Depression – gaining a long-standing reputation for considerate... View Details
Keywords: Fabric & Apparel
Herman Cone II
Cone consolidated all of the Cone companies under one corporation. The new Cone Mills Corporation had 18 plants, including the huge White Oak plant in Greensboro, the largest denim manufacturer in the world. In 1950, Cone Mills had $163 million in sales and 15,000... View Details
Keywords: Fabric & Apparel
- 01 Mar 2023
- News
Happy Monday
Illustration by Fabio Consoli Illustration by Fabio Consoli The co-CEOs noticed it right away: Early in the pandemic, staffers at the online children’s clothing company Primary.com were struggling when they logged back into Zoom on Mondays. People were not recharging... View Details