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Between 1886 and the mid-1990s America's favorite underwear, the drop-seat union suit, better known as "long Johns," was manufactured in Piqua, Ohio, a small town situated thirty miles north of Dayton. There were at various times seven different companies in Piqua producing knit undergarments for men, women, and children. One company outlasted them all- the Atlas Underwear Company, which merged with the iconic B.V.D. Company in 1929. The longevity of the company, in part, was the result of the successful promotion of their brands. In addition to underwear, these brands included items such as sweaters and socks, and from 1930 until 1941 under the new B.V.D. label fashionable swimsuits and beachwear.1
Underwear and other textile products made by the Atlas Underwear Company eventually found their way to the shelves of large American retailers, some of whom were known for their mail order service: Sears and Roebuck Co., J.C. Penney, and Levi Strauss. Sometimes the underwear, however, did not carry the Atlas name. In the 1910s, their Richmond Union Suit brand became a big seller taking its name from the city where Atlas had a factory, Richmond, Indiana. The swimwear produced in Piqua under the newly acquired B.V.D. label was available in many of America's finest stores- Saks Fifth Avenue, Henri Bendel, and B. Altman's. Insight into the manner in which Atlas/B.VD. was able to secure and maintain a market for its products provides a case study for understanding earlytwentieth-century branding techniques and the relationships between retailers and manufacturers. Of particular interest is the approach taken to rebrand the B.V.D. name to establish its supremacy for swimsuits and beach attire, when it was already so well known for its quality men's underwear.
The Atlas Underwear Company
In its first year of operation (1900), the Atlas Company had the business of Sears and Roebuck Company and Levi Strauss. Many of the styles presented in the Sears catalog were Atlas products ("Our Underwear Department"). The years of World War I were likewise successful for Atlas; it became a major producer of underwear for the Army. Leo Flesh, President of Atlas Underwear, was, in fact, appointed chairman of the Worsted Knit Underwear Committee of the Council of National Defense. It was his duty to see that the proper garments...