Botany 500 is an American brand of

menswear Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion ind ...

& suits that was originally part of a firm based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The name lives on today as a licensed property by several foreign clothing manufacturers.

Manufacturing

Botany 500 was a brand name owned by the Botany 500 Group of New York. Their men's suits and sport coats were manufactured in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, by H. Daroff and Sons, who were contracted with

Botany Mills Botany Mills was a Passaic, New Jersey, manufacturer of textiles, which was organized in 1887. It merged with Continental Textile Co., Ltd., in January 1927. Botany Mills continued to have a controlling interest in both Botany Worsted Mills and Gar ...

Passaic, New Jersey Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,78 ...

, to produce products and later bought the firm outright. Their plant was located at 23rd and Walnut Streets during the 1940s, 1950s, and beyond. Until 1945, it was located in the Pitcairn Building at 1027 Arch Street. They also produced another line called Worsted-Tex that had the image of the head of a

German Shepherd The German Shepherd or Alsatian is a German breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various traditional German herding dogs from 1899. It was originally bred as a herding dog, for he ...

dog on its label. The office, on the first floor of the plant, had a stuffed German shepherd standing guard. The seventh and topmost floor contained the top coat design department and a fabric cutting floor.

Decline

Daroff and Sons and the Botany 500 group went bankrupt in August 1973. An attempt was made to turn the company over to another company, named Cohen and Sons, which was still operating profitably. Because of resistance by the company's employees, Cohen backed out of the deal by the end of September. When Daroff finally closed its doors in December 1973, Cohen and Sons bought the Botany 500 name and assets for $4 million. They planned to keep the labels, marketing, sales, and distribution of Botany as a separate Botany 500 line which was produced at 2700 N. Broad St in Philadelphia. With the garment business taking a downturn during the second half of the decade, the Botany and Cohen and Sons operations ceased production in Philadelphia in 1986. The building was sold in 1989 for $1.75 million. Production of the Botany label was moved to a sister company within the corporate owner's portfolio previously known as Cross Country Clothes which had facilities in Northampton and Whitehall PA. The combined company was renamed as The 500 Fashion Group which manufactured suits and sportcoats. The Botany 500 label for men's tailored clothing was produced in Northampton/Whitehall until 1995. At that point, the decision was made by the investors in the parent corporation (E-II Corporation) to liquidate the four companies which the corporation held. As no buyer could be found for a unionized apparel manufacturer in the Northeast, The 500 Fashion Group was closed. The Botany 500 label was sold and manufacturing under the Botany 500 name was then outsourced to foreign companies.In 2021, the Botany 500 name resurfaced as a brand name sold by the mail-order company Haband as it appeared in their fall 2021 catalogue.

Promotion

Botany 500 provided wardrobe for many game show hosts and television presenters, including

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''. In addition, the company also provided the wardrobes for

Joey Bishop Joseph Abraham Gottlieb (February 3, 1918 – October 17, 2007), known professionally as Joey Bishop, was an American entertainer who appeared on television as early as 1948 and eventually starred in his own weekly comedy series playing a talk/ ...

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's wardrobe was provided by Judy's.

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Sherman Hemsley Sherman Alexander Hemsley (February 1, 1938 – July 24, 2012) was an American actor. He was known for his roles as George Jefferson on the CBS television series ''All in the Family'' (1973–1975; 1978) and ''The Jeffersons'' (1975–1985), Deac ...

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on '' Maude''. Ryan O’Neal's wardrobe was furnished by Botany 500 in his movie '' Love Story''.

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's wardrobe was furnished by Botany 500 in the movie ''

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Tic Tac Dough ''Tic-Tac-Dough'' is an American television game show based on the paper-and-pencil game of tic-tac-toe. Contestants answer questions in various categories to put up their respective symbol, ''X'' or ''O'', on the board. Three versions were produc ...

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Bill Cullen William Lawrence Francis Cullen (February 18, 1920 – July 7, 1990) was an American radio and television personality whose career spanned five decades. His biggest claim to fame was as a game show host; over the course of his career, he host ...

on '' Blockbusters'', and

Bob Eubanks Robert Leland Eubanks (born January 8, 1938) is an American disc jockey, television personality and game show host, best known for hosting the game show ''The Newlywed Game'' on and off since 1966. He also hosted the successful revamp version of ...

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'' listed Worsted-Tex in its closing credits (essentially dressing

for two series); Worsted-Tex also provided the wardrobes for

Gene Barry Gene Barry (born Eugene Klass, June 14, 1919 – December 9, 2009) was an American stage, screen, and television actor and singer. Barry is best remembered for his leading roles in the films ''The Atomic City'' (1952) and ''The War of The World ...

on '' Burke's Law'' and Mike Connors on ''Mannix'' (

Season 3 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pola ...

end credits).

References

{{Reflist

External links

Gallery of Botany 500 Television Credits
Clothing brands of the United States