Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Textile, footwear |
Founded | 1908 | (as M. Cooper Overalls)
Founder | Morris Cooper |
Headquarters | , England |
Area served | Worldwide |
Products | Jeans, denim t-shirts, sneakers, backpacks, and fanny packs. |
Parent | Iconix Brand Group |
Website | leecooper.com |
Lee Cooper is an English-American clothing and footwear manufacturing company, based in Shoreditch, [1] that specialises in denim products. As well as its own production, the company licences the sale of many Lee Cooper-branded items worldwide. Founded as M. Cooper (Overalls) Ltd, the company originally produced workwear for export from England, and began to specialise in denim jackets and trousers in the 1930s. Current products by Lee Cooper include jeans, denim t-shirts, sneakers, backpacks, and fanny packs.
The company that eventually became Lee Cooper was established in 1908 by Morris Cooper and a friend, Louis Maister, after they arrived in London from their hometown in Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire), having previously spent some time in South Africa. Operating under the name M. Cooper (Overalls) Ltd, from premises on Middlesex Street (aka Petitcoat Lane) in London's East End and centre of the garment industry/rag trade, they began production of workwear, having identified a market for it in South Africa. [2]
During the years of the First World War, M. Cooper (Overalls), which by then employed over 600 people, halted production of workwear and began making uniforms, kit bags and rucksacks for the British Army. In 1937, a new factory dedicated to the manufacture of denim was opened in Stratford, with the business reporting a profit of £1,000 by year end. [3] The outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 led Morris Cooper to split the business into two: one arm continued making workwear, while the other concentrated on producing military uniforms, battle fatigues and flight overalls. M. Cooper (Overalls) eventually became one of the biggest suppliers to the British Armed Forces. [4]
Morris Cooper died in 1940 and his son, Harold Cooper, took over the business upon his return from active service in the RAF. He set about modernising the company and building on its wartime success, switching focus to casual wear and denim production, and taking advantage of the introduction of clothes rationing to increase competitiveness. [5] As part of a re-branding strategy, the company was rechristened, with Harold adding a version of his wife's family name, Leigh, to his own to create "Lee Cooper". [6]
Lee Cooper jeans were adopted by the youth counterculture of the 1950s and 1960s and Harold capitalised on this association by sponsoring a Rolling Stones tour and working with Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. The company caused a degree of moral outrage in 1953 by introducing the zip-front to women's jeans [7] and commissioned a series of bold publicity campaigns, some of them incorporating fictitious designers such as the Italian 'Alfredo Angelous' in order to appeal to subcultures such as the Mods, who favoured continental style. [8]
The late 1970s saw expansion of production, with the company opening factories in Ireland, France and Tunisia and by the mid 1980s these facilities were producing between 40,000 and 45,000 garments per week. During this time, annual turnover grew to more than £100 million. Lee Cooper was also one of the main pitchside sponsors at the 1984 European Championships in France.
In 1989, the Cooper family sold their majority stake in the business and since then Lee Cooper has become a 'lifestyle' brand, operating in more than seventy markets across the world. In 2008, the company celebrated its centenary. [9]
In 2019, it entered the Bangladesh market through a collaboration with a local company named Express Leather Products. [10]
In 2013, Iconix Brand Group acquired Lee Cooper from Sun Capital Partners. [11]
Pimkie, a woman's fashion chain based in France, decided to sell to three different companies in October of 2022: Lee Cooper to specialize in jeans and denim, a sock manufacturer named Kindy, and a textile supplier in Turkey named Ibisler Tekstil. [12] [13] Lee Cooper France would hold the largest share in the company over Kindy and Ibisler Tekstil. [12] [13]
Jeans are a type of trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with the addition of copper pocket rivets added by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and patented by Davis and Levi Strauss on May 20, 1873. Prior to the patent, the term "blue jeans" had been long in use for various garments, constructed from blue-colored denim.
Denim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weave produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck. Denim, as it is recognized today, was first produced in Nîmes, France.
Levi Strauss & Co. is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, to open a West Coast branch of his brothers' New York dry goods business. Although the corporation is registered in Delaware, the company's corporate headquarters is located in Levi's Plaza in San Francisco.
Overalls or bib-and-brace overalls, also called dungarees in British English, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers".
Diesel S.p.A. is an Italian retail clothing company, located in Breganze, Italy. It sells denim and other clothing, footwear, and accessories. The clothing line has two different brands: Diesel and Diesel Black Gold. There is also a line for children, called Diesel Kid. The company is known for its surreal advertising campaigns.
Wrangler is an American manufacturer of jeans and other clothing items, particularly workwear. The brand is owned by Kontoor Brands Inc., which also owns Lee. Its headquarters is in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina, in the United States, with production plants located throughout the world.
Casual wear is a Western dress code that is relaxed, occasional, spontaneous and suited for everyday use. Casual wear became popular in the Western world following the counterculture of the 1960s. When emphasising casual wear's comfort, it may be referred to as leisurewear or loungewear.
Lee is an American brand of denim jeans, first produced in 1889 in Salina, Kansas. The company is owned by Kontoor Brands, a spin-off of VF Corporation's Jeanswear Division. Since 2019 its headquarters has been in Greensboro, North Carolina, relocated from Merriam, Kansas. The company states that it is an international retailer and manufacturer of casual wear and work wear and that it has more than 400 employees in the United States. In Australasia, the brand has been owned by Pacific Brands since 2007, after it was acquired from Yakka.
Carhartt, Inc. is an American clothing company founded in 1889, known for heavy-duty work wear such as jackets, coats, overalls, coveralls, vests, shirts, jeans, dungarees, fire-resistant clothing and hunting apparel. Carhartt remains a family-owned company, owned by the descendants of founder Hamilton Carhartt, with its headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. It is known for its slogan “True to This“.
Marithé + François Girbaud is an international clothing company based in France and founded by stylists François Girbaud and Marithé Bachellerie in 1972. They created several brands : Compagnie des montagnes et des forêts, Ça, Closed, Matricule 11342, etc. They are world-known especially for industrialization of the stonewash, baggy trousers and skin-tight jeans.
Acne Studios is a multidisciplinary luxury fashion house based in Stockholm, Sweden that specializes in men's and women's ready-to-wear fashion, footwear, accessories and denim. When founded in 1996, the label derived its name from the creative collective ACNE; initially an acronym for Associated Computer Nerd Enterprises and later a backronym of Ambition to Create Novel Expressions.
Pepe Jeans London is a denim and casual wear jeans brand established in the Portobello Road area of London in 1973, and now based in Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Spain.
Workwear is clothing worn for work, especially work that involves manual labour. Often those employed within trade industries elect to be outfitted in workwear because it is built to provide durability and safety.
Stone washing is a textile manufacturing process used to give a newly manufactured cloth garment a worn appearance. The process became popular in the 1980s, as acid jeans gained popularity; however, stone washing has roots going back to 1960s surfer apparel. Stone washing also helps to increase the softness and flexibility of otherwise stiff and rigid fabrics such as canvas and denim. Although stone washing increases a fabric's flexibility, it shortens the life-span of the jeans. The process of stone washing can be costly, as freshly stone washed jeans must be washed many times in order to remove the grit from the process. Along with high production costs, stone washing can be detrimental to the environment, due to the excess grit that is removed as fabric is being stone washed. This leads many manufacturers to pursue other methods to achieve a distressed appearance.
The Great Western Garment Company (GWG) was a Canadian denim and western wear clothing company founded in 1911 in Edmonton, Alberta by Charles A. Graham and Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first Premier of Alberta. The company was acquired by Levi Strauss, starting in 1961.
Peter Golding is an English fashion designer who created the first "designer jean" in 1970, opened his clothing store ACE on London's King's Road Chelsea in 1974 and created the first stretch denim jean in 1978. He was the first fashion designer to be invited to join what is now known as the Chartered Society of Designers, and in 2004 was invited by The Queen to Buckingham Palace in recognition of his contribution to British design. He was described by Fashion Weekly as "the Eric Clapton of denim".
Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans is the debut studio album by French-American singer Uffie. It was released on June 14, 2010, by Ed Banger Records and Because Music. Produced by Feadz, J-Mat, Mr. Oizo, Mirwais and Sebastian, the album features guest appearances by Pharrell Williams and Mattie Safer of The Rapture, includes an "adaptation" of The Velvet Underground's "Rock & Roll" and a cover of Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Hong Kong Garden", which Uffie cited as one of her favorite songs.
Arvind Limited is an Indian textile manufacturer and the flagship company of the Lalbhai Group. Its headquarters are in Naroda, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, and it has units at Santej. The company manufactures cotton shirting, denim, knits and bottomweight (khaki) fabrics. It had also recently ventured into technical textiles with its Advanced Materials Division in 2011. The company is India's largest denim manufacturer.
Athleisure is a hybrid style of athletic clothing typically worn as everyday wear. The word is a portmanteau combining the words 'athletic' and 'leisure'. Athleisure outfits can include tracksuits, sports jackets, hoodies, yoga pants, tights, sneakers, flats, Birkenstocks, uggs, leggings and shorts that look like athletic wear and pair well with it. Characterized as "fashionable, dressed-up sweats and exercise clothing," athleisure grew during the mid-2010s, from the popularity of yoga pants that emerged throughout the mid to late 2000s. The athleisure trend entails casual clothing options that give North American women the option to incorporate athletic clothing as part of their everyday attire, irrespective of their actual engagement in physical activities.