The Arrow Collar Man
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The Arrow Collar Man was an advertising icon made famous in advertising of the Cluett, Peabody & Company of Troy, New York to promote Arrow brand detachable shirt collars. About 1905 the company began an advertising campaign that featured an idyllic young man wearing an Arrow shirt with the detached collar. The advertisement was illustrated by J. C. Leyendecker (1874-1951) an up and coming commercial artist who did cover art for Saturday Evening Post. Hundreds of printed advertisements were produced from 1907 to 1930 featuring the Arrow Collar Man. The fictional Arrow collar man became an icon and by 1920 received more than 17 thousand fan letters a day, more than many of the popular film stars. President Theodore Roosevelt referred to him as a "superb portrait of the "common man. He inspired a Broadway musical Helen of Troy, New York in 1923.
[edit] Attached collars
In the early 1920's Cluett, Peabody & Co. began manufacturing their shirts with attached collars in response to consumer demand and became the most successful company in the U.S. at that time. Their sales increased to 4 million collars a week and arrow shirts with attached collars were being exported to foreign ports such as Jakarta and the Belgian Congo. The Arrow Collar Man campaign ended in 1930 having been one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history.
