By BRIGID SWEENEY with minor edits by Erik Peterson
Photo by Erik UngerInside Oxxford’s current West Loop headquarters
In one more example of the new sweeping out the old in the West Loop, 100-year-old custom suitmaker Oxxford Clothes is selling its seven-story manufacturing building at Van Buren Street and Racine Avenue and moving to the Southwest Side.
The company has produced its bespoke apparel from 1220 W. Van Buren St. for 67 years, said Oxxford President Bob Denton. But with skyrocketing real estate prices, he said the time has come to sell the building and move to a more modern space in an office park near Midway International Airport.
“I don’t have to tell you what’s going on in the West Loop—it’s a bit of a land grab,” Denton said. “We thought it was time to move into a more efficient space.”
Oxxford makes everything by hand, in the tradition of London’s Savile Row, and presses each suit dozens of times throughout the construction process. It still relies on old-fashioned oil-fired boilers to create the steam needed to press the garments.
The move will allow Oxxford to update its facilities. In addition to using electrical boilers, the company plans to add electronic tags into all of its pieces so they can be scanned and tracked as they go through a 166-step assembly process.
“We’re going to start taking photos along the way so we can send them to customers and say, ‘Here’s your coat getting its final pressing,’ ” Denton said. “Customers can follow their garment right through the factory.”
Denton declined to give the address of the Midway building, as the deal isn’t complete. He expects the West Loop location to be sold and the move to happen in the fourth quarter. Ari Klein and Larry Goldwasser of Cushman & Wakefield are representing Oxxford in the sale of the building.
Denton said he anticipates some downtown customers won’t want to make the trek to the Southwest Side to get fitted for their suits, which start at about $3,500 and go as high as $50,000. (Here’s where we feel compelled to remind you that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich spent more than $200,000 at Oxxford over seven years.)
So Denton has partnered with Albert Karoll, owner of Richard Bennett Custom Tailors on Jackson Boulevard near the Board of Trade building in the Loop. Karoll, who creates his own custom suits with a team of seven tailors, will now also measure and fit customers for Oxxford suits.
“People ask, ‘Why do you need Oxxford when you’re already making very high-quality custom suits?’ ” Karoll said. “The simple answer is that they’re at such a different scale; they’re able to do techniques and design that just take it to the next level.”
Richard Bennett suits sell for about $3,500 apiece. Karoll said an Oxxford suit will represent a step up in price for most of his customers; still, he expects sales to jump by about 20 percent as a result of the partnership.
CHANGING TIMES, CHANGING FORTUNES
Richard Bennett Custom Tailors in the Loop will now sell Oxxford suits.
Oxxford has weathered ups and downs in its century of existence.
The company, founded in Chicago in 1916 by brothers Jacob and Louis Weinberg, has outfitted Clark Gable, Joe DiMaggio, Walter Cronkite and Blagojevich, among others.
The Weinbergs sold Oxxford to Byer-Rolnick, a Dallas-based hat manufacturer, in 1963; Levi Strauss eventually took ownership in 1979. Nine years later, Oxxford’s CEO at the time, Jack McDonald, purchased it back with the help of an investment team that included Harvard Management, which runs Harvard University’s endowment.
The investors lost everything in the early ’90s, when lender Heller International foreclosed on Oxxford’s assets. Hit by the rise of business casual, it was losing money at the time. Menswear company Tom James Company purchased Oxxford from Heller in 1994 and owns it today.
The Tom James Company has two locations in Chicago that also carry Oxxford Chicago Downtown and Western Suburbs.
These days, Denton said, Oxxford is on firmer financial footing. “Our business over the last five or six years has been better; we’ve had nice increases every year,” he said. “A lot of people who are interested in dressing well are finding us and are very interested in the process. They don’t want to go to a store and settle for something.”
Oxxford is profitable, according to Denton. “Our profit and financials are very healthy,” he said. “Things are good.”
Still, the reality of today’s casual dress means the business won’t likely return to its heyday. The company makes at least 35 suits a day, which translates to about 8,000 a year. That’s a far cry from the 35,000 suits Oxxford cranked out annually back in 1986, according to a Chicago Tribune story at the time.
4/21/2016 5:10:20 AM
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About: Erik Peterson has been with the Tom James Company since 1995. He serves clients in the Tampa St Petersburg Lakeland Sarasota market with their personal clothing needs. Specializing in Custom Bespoke Mens Suits Shirts Ties and Casual wear Erik Peterson – – Tom James Company would be happy to assist you with your wardrobe planning. He typically sees his clients in their office or home by appointment and is happy to help fit or tailor any of your existing clothing.