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42
winter
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spr ing
Collaring a Fortune
In 1825, an exasperated and overworked housewife by the name of
Mrs. Montague of Troy, New York, cut off the collars and cuffs of her
husband’s white shirts because she was tired of laundering and pressing the
entire garment when only the collar and cuffs were soiled. Once the small
pieces were laundered and pressed, she
basted
them back onto the shirts,
significantly reducing the time she spent at the washtub. The idea caught
on and a new industry was founded: that of creating detachable collars.
Eventually, collar and cuff workshops sprang up throughout Troy, but
it wasn’t until Frederick Forrest Peabody joined Cluett and Company
and convinced the other partners that detachable collars could be mass
marketed and branded, that the Arrow Collar brand was born and the
business became widespread.
Born in 1858 in Northfield, Vermont, Peabody had a public school
education and taught school until he began clerking in the Chicago
salesroom of Coon and van Volkenberg, a collar and cuff manufacturer
based in Troy. Within four years, Peabody’s energy and drive made him a
partner in the firm. In 1889, the firm merged with Cluett and Company,
and after Coon retired in 1896, it became Cluett, Peabody and Company.
In 1905, the firm launched a national advertising campaign. They hired
J.C. Leyendecker, a renowned illustrator whose work graced the covers
of
Saturday Evening Post
and other well-known magazines of the time.
Leyendecker created the Arrow Collar Man, a good looking, dignified, worldly
character who became so popular that he received thousands of fan mail letters
a week. The masculine equivalent of the Gibson Girl, the Arrow Collar Man
boosted the company’s reputation to international prominence and Peabody’s
fortune was made. He served as president of the firm from 1907 to 1917 and as
chairman for an additional two years until he retired in 1920.
Girard Hale at the entrance to Solano,
Fredrick Peabody’s Montecito estate
The sun room at Solano