This morning I picked up a Carl Michaels sportcoat in fine nick at a local thrift shop. It is a two button jacket with notched lapels and a single vent at the back. It is made of a 100% wool tweed cloth, sage green with darker flecks of light brown and very faint alternating stripes (single threads, actually) of light blue and ochre and it is of a medium weight. The condition is outstanding and it fits me perfectly. I paid all of $4.32 for this beauty. There is little information on the jacket's labels (the Carl Michaels name, a 100% wool Woolmark, and brief instructions to dry clean professionally. There is no information about country of manufacture and no Union of Garment Workers label, although it looks US-made from the sixties, to my eye. I do not know much about Carl Michaels and there does not seem to be much available here on our Forum. So I am wondering if anyone here has run into this manufacturer, or owned jackets made by them.
Carl Michaels Sports Jacket
1 - 15 of 15 Posts
I'll take one tomorrow and post it. Daylight would be much better for a photograph than the artificial light at night. Since I don't have a smart phone or even a cell phone ( except an old one for emergencies ), I'll have to use a camera and then upload the photo from there into my computer. I don't use telephones very much in general and I also do not take many photos!
Joined
·
3,720 Posts
I haven't been able to find out much. What I have found are a bunch of department store advertisements from the 1980s in which various types of men's garments under the "Carl Michaels" brand are listed--shirts, belts, cotton/polyester trousers, pajamas, sport coats, socks, etc. The prices were low--for example, $14.00 for short-sleeve shirts, $135.00 for the sport coats (on sale for $99.00). I don't know when the brand went away.
Thank you, Charles. My search revealed that Allied Stores Corp., of New York did file a US trademark registration for the brand Carl Michaels back in March of 1987. This is the site I found this information on:
https://www.trademarkia.com/carl-michaels-73650113.html
Very little beyond that, although there are many items of clothing made under this brand on eBay.
Joined
·
1,247 Posts
Hate to ask but would it be possible to get a picture of the Carl Michaels tag on the inside as well as any interior pocket tags. This might allow us to guess who actually made the jacket. However, my guess is we will not be able to clearly determine maker.
As a thrifter, I have gotten used to the idea that some older stuff just has to be appreciated for what it is without any real idea as to who made it. Enjoy it.
Edit. Just looked at a bunch on eBay and I have definitely seen this brand from time to time in the thrifts. My guess is maybe early 80's? Probably still many makers in the US at that time, now mostly all gone.
As a thrifter, I have gotten used to the idea that some older stuff just has to be appreciated for what it is without any real idea as to who made it. Enjoy it.
Edit. Just looked at a bunch on eBay and I have definitely seen this brand from time to time in the thrifts. My guess is maybe early 80's? Probably still many makers in the US at that time, now mostly all gone.
Joined
·
3,720 Posts
^ The earliest advertisement I could find that featured "Carl Michaels" clothing was from 1974; the latest, 1998.
It is identical to the tag below which is from the net -- I am not set up to take a quick photo and post it, since I don't have a smartphone. There are no other tags anywhere on the jacket except the store label, and the store is Miller & Rhoads.
Apparently, Miller and Rhoads was a major department store in the fifties and sixties in Richmond, Roanoke and other parts of Virginia. Here is some information from the Department Store Museum online:
https://www.thedepartmentstoremuseum.org/2010/11/miller-rhoads-richmond-virginia.html
The store probably carried a lot of trad clothing back then. By 1990 they had closed.
Joined
·
11 Posts
Joined
·
11 Posts
I would check out Garfinkel’s entry on Wikipedia for more information on the Miller & Rhoads chain. The Miller & Rhoads chain was acquired by Garfinkels, a Washington DC based department store chain that controlled Brooks Brothers, in 1967. In 1981 Garfinkels acquired the Ann Taylor chain and the same year Garfinkels was acquired by the Allied Corporation. In 1986, Campeau corporation acquired the Allied Corporation. The Miller & Rhoads chain entered bankruptcy in 1989 and most of the store locations were closed. Some store locations were sold to the May corporation and rebranded as Hecht’s and later the Hecht name was changes to Macys
Bit of an old thread revival here...
I'm new to the forum. I also have a Carl Michaels grey wool blazer.
From my research, the old Seattle-based "The Bon" (also The Bon Marché) were the ones who sold this brand.
It appears that in 1990, Federated Department Stores (they are the parent company for Macy's & Bloomindale's) bought out The Bon Marché and the stores were re-branded Bon-Macy's and by 2005, they were all renamed just "Macy's".
I'm new to the forum. I also have a Carl Michaels grey wool blazer.
From my research, the old Seattle-based "The Bon" (also The Bon Marché) were the ones who sold this brand.
It appears that in 1990, Federated Department Stores (they are the parent company for Macy's & Bloomindale's) bought out The Bon Marché and the stores were re-branded Bon-Macy's and by 2005, they were all renamed just "Macy's".
1 - 15 of 15 Posts
