Industry | Retail |
---|---|
Founded | 1975 |
Headquarters | , U.S. |
Products | Clothing |
Parent | MO 1975 |
Website | www |
Members Only is an American brand of clothing that became popular in the 1980s with its line of jackets. [1] The brand was created in 1975 [2] by men's clothing entrepreneur Herb Goldsmith [3] and first introduced to domestic American markets in 1980 by Europe Craft Imports. [1] Members Only racer jackets were distinguished by their narrow epaulettes and collar strap and their knitted trim; they were manufactured in a wide variety of colors. Their advertising tagline was "when you put it on, something happens".
In the 2010s, Members Only continued to launch seasonal collections carried at online retailers as well as brick-and-mortar stores such as Urban Outfitters. [4] [5]
The brand was licensed in 2016 by Sammy Catton, President of iApparel Brands, LLC. Ron Malhotra currently owns the brand. In recent years, Members Only has added many styles of jackets, including a women's line, Footwear, Sportswear, and Hosiery.
Communication scholar Todd Kelshaw [6] has interpreted the brand's popularity surge as part of a broader cultural shift in the early 1980s from participatory communities to increasingly wealthy materially-based communities represented in the purchase of consumer products. Members Only were known in the 1980s for their shift from celebrity endorsements as a form of advertisement to public service announcements regarding issues like anti-drugs and pro-voting. [7]
Political journalist Matt Bai, in his book All The Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid, about former U.S. Senator Gary Hart's ill-fated 1988 presidential campaign, said that he had once referred to Hart as a dated figure from the 1980s, "the political version of a Members Only jacket." [8]
Eddie Bauer LLC is an American outdoor recreation brand and chain store headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. Eddie Bauer sells its merchandise via retail stores, outlet stores, online, and via telephone. Its call center is located in Groveport, Ohio, United States. The company also licenses the Eddie Bauer brand name and logo for various products sold through other companies including eyewear, furniture, bicycles, and, up until the 2010 model year, upper level versions of Ford Motor Company's Bronco, Explorer, Expedition and Excursion SUVs.
Hip-hop fashion refers to the various styles of dress that originated from Urban Black America and inner city youth in cities like New York City, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. Being a major part of hip hop culture, it further developed in other cities across the United States, with each contributing different elements to the overall style that is now recognized worldwide.
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer headquartered at SouthSide Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by brothers Jerry and Mark Silverman as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc., a company that also owned and operated Silverman's Menswear. The Silvermans sold their ownership interests in 1991 to Jacob Price of Knoxville, Tennessee. American Eagle Outfitters is the parent company of Aerie, Unsubscribed and Todd Snyder.
Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) is a multinational lifestyle retail corporation headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Operating in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, select Western European countries, Poland, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar, the Urban Outfitters brand targets young adults with a merchandise mix of women's and men's fashion apparel, footwear, beauty and wellness products, accessories, activewear and gear, and housewares, as well as music, primarily vinyl records and cassettes.
Roots Corporation is a publicly held Canadian brand that sells apparel, leather bags, small leather goods, footwear, athletic wear, and home furnishings. The company was founded in 1973 in Toronto, Ontario, by Michael Budman and Don Green. In 2015, Roots was sold to Searchlight Capital Partners LP, an American investment firm.
Pacific Sunwear of California, LLC, commonly known as PacSun, is an American retail clothing brand. The company sells lifestyle apparel, along with swim, footwear and accessories designed for teens and young adults. As of 2022, the company operates 325 stores in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. PacSun is headquartered in Anaheim, California, and formerly operated a distribution center in Groveport, Ohio. The company's regional directors, district managers and store positions are located throughout the United States. The company went bankrupt in April 2016 and is now owned by Golden Gate Capital.
Helly Hansen (HH) is a Norwegian manufacturer and retailer of clothing and sports equipment and a subsidiary of the Canadian retail chain Canadian Tire. Currently headquartered in Oslo, it was previously headquartered in Moss, Norway, from its founding in 1877 until October 2009.
VF Corporation is an American global apparel and footwear company founded in 1899 by John Barbey and headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The company's 11 brands are organized into three categories: Outdoor, Active and Work. In 2015, the company controlled 55% of the U.S. backpack market with the JanSport, Eastpak, Timberland, and The North Face brands.
Fashion in the 1990s was defined by a return to minimalist fashion, in contrast to the more elaborate and flashy trends of the 1980s. One notable shift was the mainstream adoption of tattoos, body piercings aside from ear piercing and, to a much lesser extent, other forms of body modification such as branding.
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".
J. Barbour & Sons, Limited, trading as Barbour, is an English luxury and lifestyle brand founded by John Barbour in 1894 that designs, manufactures and markets waxed cotton outerwear, ready-to-wear, footwear and accessories under the Barbour and Barbour International brands. Founded in South Shields, England, as an importer of oil cloth, J. Barbour and Sons Ltd became known for its waxed cotton jackets, a common element of British country clothing; some refer to any waxed cotton jacket, regardless of brand, as a "Barbour jacket". J. Barbour and Sons Ltd holds royal warrants for the supply of ‘waterproof and protective clothing’ from the Duke of Edinburgh (1974), Queen Elizabeth II (1982) and King Charles III (1987).
Fashion of the 1980s was characterized by a rejection of 1970s fashion. Punk fashion began as a reaction against both the hippie movement of the past decades and the materialist values of the current decade. The first half of the decade was relatively tame in comparison to the second half, which was when apparel became very bright and vivid in appearance.
Gerry is a brand of outdoor sports clothing and gear, currently specializing in cold weather garments (clothes).
Matt Bai is an American journalist, author and screenwriter. He is a contributing columnist for the Washington Post. Between 2014 and 2019, he was the national political columnist for Yahoo! News. On 25 July 2019, via Twitter, Bai announced he was leaving Yahoo! News to "focus on screenwriting". For more than a decade prior to that, he was the chief political correspondent for the New York Times Magazine, where he covered three presidential campaigns, as well as a columnist for the Times. His cover stories in the magazine include the 2008 cover essay "Is Obama the End of Black Politics?" and a 2004 profile of John Kerry titled "Kerry's Undeclared War". His work was honored in two editions of The Best American Political Writing. Bai is a graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University in Medford, MA, and Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, where the faculty awarded him the Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship. In 2014, Bai had two brief appearances as himself in the second season of TV show House of Cards.
Street style is fashion that is considered to have emerged not from studios, but from the population at large. Street fashion is generally associated with youth culture, and is most often seen in major urban centers. Magazines and newspapers commonly feature candid photographs of individuals wearing urban, stylish clothing. Mainstream fashion often appropriates street fashion trends as influences. Most major youth subcultures have had an associated street fashion. Street style is different all around the globe.
Starter, Inc. is an American clothing manufacturer, focusing on major league sports teams. Starter's current licenses include MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL teams. Non-sports agreements include a partnership with Coca-Cola.
C.C. Filson is an American privately owned outfitter and manufacturer of goods for outdoor enthusiasts. The company, based in Seattle, Washington, designs, manufactures, distributes and sells men's and women's outdoor clothing, accessories and luggage. Filson sells its products via company-owned retail stores, catalogs and the Filson website as well as through authorized dealers in the United States and international distributors. The company was originally established in Seattle in 1897 as C.C. Filson's Pioneer Alaska Clothing and Blanket Manufacturers to meet the needs of prospectors passing through Seattle on their way to the Klondike Gold Rush; as of 2012 the brand is owned by Fossil Group founder Tom Kartsotis, who also created Shinola Detroit.
Ralph Lauren Corporation, the legal name of the Ralph Lauren brand, is an American publicly traded luxury fashion company that was founded in 1967 by American fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Headquartered in New York City, the company produces luxury products. Ralph Lauren is known for marketing and distributing products in four categories: apparel, home, accessories, and fragrances. Known mostly for its flagship brand Polo Ralph Lauren, the company's brands include mid-range, sub-premium, and premium labels up to its highest priced luxury Ralph Lauren Purple Label apparel.
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 or 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.
Phat Farm is a clothing brand that was founded by Russell Simmons in 1992. Phat Farm was known for its bold and colorful designs that married classic preppy style with hip-hop culture.