Sunday, May 13, 2012

White's - New Haven

Does anyone remember White’s in New Haven on Chapel Street?  It was a great store with great merchandise.  Oddly, I can’t find a shred of information on it on the i-net.  This tie belonged to my Dad, and my sister sent it to me for my birthday.


5 comments:

New Haven Trad said...

From Ivy Style:

In 1936, Izzy White was an off-the-rack gamechanger. His son Alan — now 82 — followed his father’s stewardship at White’s of New Haven and recently shared a cornucopia of recollections with me.

The big boys were all custom tailors, and his father recognized that a vacuum existed in readymade clothing. White approached Hickey Freeman, the manufacturer of America’s most respected line of upscale clothing. Handsewn in its Rochester factory, its prime customer FR Tripler was the showcase for the company in New York. Joe Hickey financed a stand-alone floor for his product at the new White’s Chapel Street store, which ironically was leased from Arthur M. Rosenberg. Izzy White’s bet forced competitors to divert cash from custom tailoring to readymade inventory on the floor, a trend interrupted by the onset of World War II.

New Haven Trad said...

From AskAndy:

Oh and for the clothing mavens. It is astonishing what New Haven has lost by way of traditional clothiers. In My teens there was Gentree, Rosenbergs, White's, The Yale Co-op Men's store (which in the days of the single sex college was quite extensive) even Saks fifth Avenue had a men's store on York Street which closed in maybe 1972. Of course the legendary Barries shoe store (used to be an annex of JPress untill they moved into the space. Rosenbergs vacated. There were others I can't recall. maybe others can.

Fred Johnson said...

Being from new haven and old enough, I do indeed remember White's. I only bought a few items there and was not a regular shopper, preferring some of the other , smaller shops along Chapel Street in those days.
All of their merchandise was tops, comparable to JPress. they moved to smaller quarters in Branford in their late years before closing shortly thereafter. I seem to remember that my farther was White's customer starting from after the war, owing several sport jackets which I never did grow into.

Silk Regimental said...

Gents -- thanks for the comments and perspectives... I remember buying my Mom an outfit there, it Shetland wool, sort of a knitted suit. My sisters, brother and I gave it to her for Christmas.

Memories.....

Anonymous said...

Our uniforms were fitted at White's. Day Prospect Hill women's Leslie tartan kilts and blue blazers. Well, gray blazers at first and then blue. 1959 -1967.