Area blazer maker marks 130 years

By Dorothy Foster

Correspondent

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — The nation’s oldest privately held clothing manufacturer recently celebrated its 130th year of supplying garments for “presidents, the military, sports icons, Hollywood actors, Disney and the Rose Bowl Parade,” according to Jim Park, vice president of sales for Hardwick Clothes here.

Hardwick’s signature blazers have been worn everywhere from the World Series of Golf to the movies “Wild River” and “We Are Marshall,” Park said.

But they aren’t known only for blazers, or sports coats, as they are commonly known.

Since its founding in 1880 by C.L. Hardwick, Hardwick Clothes has sold every type of men’s garment imaginable, including jeans, dollar pants, knicker suits, even convict stripes and leisure suits, according to Tommy Hopper, president.

“We concentrate on what we do best, which is to make men’s tailored clothing,” Hopper said. “We focus on great service, quality and reliability, and that is what we’re known for in the industry.”

Hopper said the company suceeds by concentrating on its founding principles: The pursuit of manufacturing and selling quality products.

“We tried doing imports for a while, but it didn’t work because we couldn’t do quality control. By working on site, we can guarantee our products,” Hopper said.

In the early days the firm spun the fabric and sewed the clothes in a single factory, leading to the company motto, “From the sheep’s back to the clothing rack.”

In its 1929 heyday, Hardwick Clothes was the largest clothing mill in the world, Hopper said, employing more than 600 people.

The company started manufacturing blazers in the 1950s, and they quickly became one of its most popular products. By the 1970s the company became largest producer of men’s and women’s tailored blazers in the world, according to Hopper, leading to pop culture appearances.

The producers of the movie “We Are Marshall” ran across the company’s Web site and asked it to create blazers for the movie, Hopper said, and Hardwick also created suits for Montgomery Clift for the Tennessee filmed movie “Wild River.”

As Hopper explains it, Clift brought only one suit with him to Tennessee for the movie, and because of the tight filming schedule and the extra time it would take to ship more suits from Hollywood, Hardwick was asked to make them instead.

In addition to creating traditional men’s clothing, the company also fills orders for umpires, the Salvation Army, mail-order catalogs and even small local department stores, Hopper said.

Don Webb of Johnston’s Department Store in Etowah, Tenn., who is a fan of the company’s custom suits, said that he “could probably buy less expensive imports somewhere else. But their extensive inventory and excellent customer service makes it a win-win situation for me,”

There were setbacks as well. As the years wore on, Hardwick suffered three major fires; the lack of a fire department at times dictating the use of bucket brigades to save the building.

Hopper said the clothing company’s biggest asset isn’t its star power or its history, but its 250 loyal employees, like Opal Dennis. She’s been with the company for decades, and she isn’t ready to leave anytime soon.

“I’m almost 73,” laughed Dennis, “but I plan to stay to 75 if they’ll have me.”

It’s what Hopper calls “espirit de corps.”

Staff writer Ellis Smith contributed to this story.

Correspondent Dorothy Foster can be reached at derth1@hotmail.com.