| Industry | Clothing manufacturer & Retail |
|---|---|
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
| Founded | 1876 |
| Defunct | 1997 |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois later Atlanta, Georgia |
| Key people | Bernard Kuppenheimer, founder |
| Products | Fashion apparel |
| Parent | Hartmarx later Men's Wearhouse |
B. Kuppenheimer & Co., or simply Kuppenheimer, was a mens clothing manufacturing and retail operation based in Chicago, Illinois and later Atlanta, Georgia.
Bernard Kuppenheimer and his son started the firm in 1876, after having been a partner in the Chicago clothing firm of Kohn, Claybugh & Einstein. Upon emigrating to America in 1850, Bernard Kuppenheimer founded a retail clothing store in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1852. Bernard relocated to Chicago in 1866, leaving the Terre Haute store under the supervision of his brother John. In 1906, the Chicago firm operated "The House of Kuppenheimer" branches in Boston and New York, with sales in Washington, D.C. handled by Isidor Grosner of 1013 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.[1] During the 1st World War Kuppenheimer's was the manufacturer of uniforms for the U.S. Army. The company grew to employ close to 2,000 men and women at shops around Chicago in 1910.[2]
In March 1963, the firm was purchased by Louis Roth & Co., Inc. of Los Angeles for $3 million.[3] The firm continued as a leading manufacturer of men's clothing until 1982, when it was purchased by Hart Schaffner & Marx (later Hartmarx). By the mid-1990s, after the headquarters moved to Atlanta, sales were lagging, many of its stores were closing, and it entered into bankruptcy. Hartmarx completed the divestiture of its retail operations when it sold the company in 1995, to an intermediate investment group. The Men's Wearhouse purchased the bankrupt Kuppenheimer in 1997, who closed many more Kuppenheimer stores and eventually folded the Kuppenheimer business into its own by liquidating the remaining assets.[4]