Cluett Peabody & Company was an American shirtmaker and haberdashery manufacturer best known for its Arrow brand collars, shirts, cuffs, and related menswear. Based for much of its history in Troy, New York, the company helped standardize mass-produced shirt collars at a moment when detachable collars were a common part of men’s dress. Its advertising, especially the Arrow Collar Man campaigns, made the company far better known than its corporate name.
- Type: apparel manufacturer
- Founded: mid-19th century, under earlier company names
- Headquarters: Troy, New York
- Best-known brand: Arrow
- Products: shirts, detachable collars, detachable cuffs, men’s accessories
- Later history: absorbed by Westpoint Pepperell in the 1980s
What was Cluett Peabody & Company?
Cluett Peabody & Company was a large-scale garment manufacturer that specialized in men’s shirts and detachable shirt furnishings. Its name appears in the history of American clothing manufacturing because it turned a practical item—the removable collar—into a branded mass product. The company grew out of mid-19th-century shirtmaking and eventually became one of the best-known names in American menswear.
The firm’s products were closely tied to changing dress habits. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, detachable collars and cuffs were worn for neatness, economy, and easy laundering. Cluett Peabody supplied those parts in standardized sizes and styles, helping make formal shirtwear more uniform and widely available.
Why did Arrow collars matter?
Arrow was the brand that made the company visible to ordinary consumers. Arrow collars and shirts were sold as reliable, clean, modern essentials, and the advertising gave the brand a strong visual identity. The famous Arrow Collar Man, used in ads from 1905 to 1931, became one of the era’s most recognizable male fashion images.
Those advertisements did more than sell clothing. They helped shape ideals of masculinity, grooming, and urban polish in the early twentieth century. The Arrow campaigns used photography, illustration, and carefully staged poses to present the collar and shirt as part of a broader social image: a man who looked controlled, attractive, and current.
How was the company connected to shirtmaking?
Cluett Peabody’s business depended on industrialized textile and apparel production. The company manufactured shirts and separate collar pieces that had to fit standard neck sizes and work with specific shirt constructions. That required cutting, stitching, finishing, and sizing systems precise enough to produce consistent results across large runs.
Detachable collars are important here because they show how clothing once combined function and form in a way that today looks unusual. A collar could be removed for washing or replaced when worn out, while the shirt body lasted longer. Cluett Peabody’s success came from making that system efficient, branded, and fashionable at scale.
What became of the company?
Cluett Peabody began under earlier names in the mid-nineteenth century and later consolidated under the Cluett Peabody identity. Its long base in Troy linked it to the city’s broader history as a manufacturing center, where textile work and garment production supported local industry for decades. Like many American apparel firms, it eventually faced consolidation as manufacturing patterns changed in the late twentieth century.
The company was absorbed by Westpoint Pepperell in the 1980s, but the Arrow name survived through licensing. That matters because the brand outlived the original manufacturer and continues to appear on men’s shirts and ties. In that sense, Cluett Peabody remains present not as a factory, but as a brand shape that still circulates in menswear.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Cluett Peabody & Company a fashion house?
No. It was an industrial manufacturer rather than a couture or design house. Its work centered on producing standardized shirts and detachable shirt furnishings for mass sale. The company’s influence came from scale, branding, and advertising rather than from runway-style fashion design.
What is the Arrow Collar Man?
The Arrow Collar Man was the idealized male figure used in Arrow advertisements from the early twentieth century. He appeared as a polished, handsome, well-dressed man and became a cultural symbol well beyond the product itself. The image helped make the brand memorable and gave the company a powerful visual identity.
Are Arrow shirts still sold?
Yes, the Arrow name still appears on men’s shirts and ties through licensing. The original manufacturing company no longer operates as it once did, but the brand continues in retail form. That continuity makes Arrow one of the longer-lived names from American apparel history.