Levy Bros. & Adler-Rochester, Inc. papers

The men's clothing industry of Rochester, NY was more than fifty years old by the beginning of the 20th century. The city was one of the top producers of clothing in the country, and was the indisputable leader in quality. The bulk of the manufacturers were located near the Genesee River at St. Paul and Andrews Streets, an area called "clothier's row." There were more large factories being constructed than ever before to create more working space under one roof, and to allow for better control of production and supervision of quality. More than twenty new clothing firms were established during the first decade of the 1900s.

An important company to emerge at this time was Levy Brothers Clothing Company. Jacob Levy (1869-1926) founded the company circa 1900 with his younger brothers Barney, Hiram, and Moses, who were later joined by their youngest brother David. Born and raised in Rochester, Jacob started in the tailoring business as a boy, and was well established as an overcoat contractor by the age of nineteen. He therefore made the decision that his new firm would specialize in manufacturing overcoats.

The Levy brothers began as clothing contractors and merchant tailors, doing all of the selling and manufacturing themselves. In 1908 Levy Bros. Clothing Co. expanded into the production of men's suit lines, and the company soon became famous for its policy of selling suit lines to wholesalers for either $13.50 or $18.50. The quick success of the firm prompted a move to a larger building near clothier's row and the addition of a sales organization, as the volume had become too much for the Levy brothers to handle on their own. In a few years, the company employed almost 500 people and shipped clothing to all areas of the United States and parts of Canada.

Production slowed after World War I, however, and in 1922 Levy Bros. Clothing Co. was forced to merge with another struggling Rochester manufacturer, L. Adler Bros. & Co. The new firm, called Levy Brothers & Adler-Rochester, Inc., took over the modern facility built by L. Adler Bros. & Co. in 1910. The Adler name had been associated with superior quality clothing for almost forty years, while Levy Bros. Clothing Co. was known for its popular prices, allowing the newly merged company to produce medium-priced clothing using the reputable "Adler-Rochester" label. After the merger, Jacob Levy became president of Levy Bros. & Adler-Rochester, and most of the executives from the two former firms remained with the new company. In 1926, Jacob Levy died and Hiram Levy became president, while Jacob's son Earle became a vice-president (he would later become president) and Mortimer Adler became treasurer.

In 1928, Levy Bros. & Adler-Rochester, Inc. pioneered a knitted wool fabric, called "Mt. Rock Fleece," which was made into overcoats named "Mt. Rock Coats." The fabric was soft and luxurious but with a sound knitted construction, making it very popular with other major coat makers, who soon presented variations of the fabric for their own production. The Mt. Rock label was a huge success, and was the most popular outer-coating in the industry in the 1930s. By the mid 1940s, Levy Bros. & Adler-Rochester, Inc. had completely abandoned their suit and sport-coat lines, and concentrated on the more profitable production of overcoats, as Levy Bros. Clothing Co. had done years before. The Mt. Rock line was highly promoted, and a women's line of tailored overcoats was added. The company also made army officers' overcoats during World War II, as L. Adler Bros. & Co. had done during World War I.

At the same time, Michaels-Stern & Co., a highly respected men's clothing manufacturer in Rochester, had stopped producing overcoats, and both Levy Bros. & Adler-Rochester, Inc. and Michaels-Stern & Co. agreed to promote each other's product at retail stores where they each had influence. Their association was strengthened in 1951 when the death of Mortimer Adler in 1950, coupled with the difficulty in generating sufficient overcoat volume, forced Levy Bros. & Adler-Rochester, Inc. to merge with Michaels-Stern & Co. At that time, Hiram Levy retired and his son Mortimer, who had joined the company in 1934 as a salesman and woolen buyer and had become vice-president, moved out of state. Earle Levy, the president of Levy Bros. & Adler-Rochester, Inc., joined Michaels-Stern & Co. as vice-president, while Robert M. Adler, Mortimer Adler's son, retained his position as treasurer. After the 1951 merger, Michaels-Stern & Co. continued producing clothing under the popular "Adler-Rochester" and "Mt. Rock" labels.

Levy Bros. & Adler-Rochester, Inc. was the first nationally known manufacturer of men's clothing in Rochester to fall since Stein-Bloch & Co. was absorbed by Fashion Park Clothes, Inc. in 1928. Clothing production was beginning a steady decline, as Rochester failed to keep pace with expansion in other parts of the country. The city, however, did not lose its reputation as the leader in quality manufacturing of men's clothing.