Jockey International
Encyclopedia
Jockey International, Inc. is a manufacturer, distributor
Distributor
A distributor is a device in the ignition system of an internal combustion engine that routes high voltage from the ignition coil to the spark plugs in the correct firing order. The first reliable battery operated ignition was developed by Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co. and introduced in the...

 and retailer of underwear, sleepwear for men, women, and children. The company is based in Kenosha, Wisconsin
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Kenosha is a city and the county seat of Kenosha County in the State of Wisconsin in United States. With a population of 99,218 as of May 2011, Kenosha is the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Kenosha is also the fourth-largest city on the western shore of Lake Michigan, following Chicago,...

. Jockey is known for having invented the first men's Y-Front brief
Briefs
Briefs are a type of short, tight underwear and swimwear, as opposed to styles where the material extends down the legs.In the case of men's underwear, briefs, unlike boxer shorts, hold the wearer's genitals in a relatively fixed position, which make briefs a popular underwear choice for men who...

 in 1934. Jockey is a recognized trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

 in 120 countries.

History

Jockey was originally named Coopers Inc., and was founded by Samuel T. Cooper in 1876 as a hosiery
Hosiery
Hosiery, also referred to as legwear, describes garments worn directly on the feet and legs. The term originated as the collective term for products of which a maker or seller is termed a hosier; and those products are also known generically as hose...

 business. Cooper began the business when he learned that lumberjacks were suffering from poorly constructed wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....

 socks. In 1900, Cooper began making undergarments. Although business was good enough to merit expansion in 1902, by 1934 Coopers Inc. was nearly bankrupt due to hardships caused by the Great Depression. The company recruited Harry H. Wolf, Sr., to restructure the company.

On January 19, 1935, during a blizzard
Blizzard
A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong winds. By definition, the difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have winds in excess of with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to 400 meters or ¼ mile or...

, Coopers Inc. sold the world's first briefs
Briefs
Briefs are a type of short, tight underwear and swimwear, as opposed to styles where the material extends down the legs.In the case of men's underwear, briefs, unlike boxer shorts, hold the wearer's genitals in a relatively fixed position, which make briefs a popular underwear choice for men who...

 at the Marshall Field's State Street store in downtown Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. Designed by an apparel engineer named Arthur Kneibler, briefs dispensed with leg sections and had a Y-shaped overlapping fly. The company dubbed the design the Jockey, since it offered a degree of support that had previously only been available from the jockstrap
Jockstrap
A jockstrap is an undergarment designed for supporting the male genitalia during sports or other vigorous physical activity...

. Jockey briefs proved so popular that over 30,000 pairs were sold within three months of their introduction. Coopers, having renamed the company Jockey, sent its Mascul-liner plane to make special deliveries of masculine support briefs to retailers across the US. In 1938, when Jockeys were introduced in the UK, they sold at the rate of 3,000 a week.
Later they were to acquire the Formfit
Formfit
The Formfit Company was established in 1917 with headquarters in Chicago as a maker of women’s “foundation garments” – mainly corsets and girdles. It was one of the largest, if not the largest manufacturers of such products in the world. At their Chicago headquarters they had a building a block...

-Rogers underwear line of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. In 1982, Jockey introduced the Jockey For Her line of intimate apparel
Intimate Apparel
Intimate Apparel is a play written by Lynn Nottage. The play is a co-production and co-commission between Center Stage, Baltimore, Maryland, and South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, California....

 and underwear.

Divisions

In 2000, Jockey began selling products directly on-line at jockey.com.

Jockey manufactured Life and Formfit brands temporarily for Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

 and Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...

. Jockey continues to manufacture the Life brand of men's underwear but discontinued the women's line in 2002.

In 2005, Jockey introduced its direct-selling division jockeyp2p.com. The independent sales force, known as Comfort Specialist Consultants, sells products for women. Product lines include outerwear, sportswear, active wear, and accessories. Jockey International Chairman and CEO Debra S. Waller founded Jockey Person to Person to provide women with the opportunity to enjoy a rich family life while making their dreams come true.

Jockey Being Family

Jockey Being Family is Jockey International's community relations initiative focused on supporting families after they have adopted a child. Through this initiative, Jockey strives to increase awareness of and accessibility to post-adoption services nationwide for adoptive families. http://www.jockey.com/en-US/CorporateInfo/History/history1909.htm

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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