Russell Brands, LLC was an American
corporation
A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...
that manufactured
sports equipment
Sports equipment, sporting equipment, also called sporting goods, are the tools, materials, apparel, and gear used to compete in a sport and varies depending on the sport. The equipment ranges from balls, nets, and protective gear like helmets. ...
, marketing its products under many brands and subsidiaries, such as
Russell Athletic
Russell Athletic is an American clothing manufacturer based in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Currently a subsidiary of global company Fruit of the Loom, Russell Athletic was the main brand of Russell Brands, LLC. until its acquisition in 2006. (its flagship brand) and
Spalding. Formerly a
publicly traded company
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...
, Russell Brands was acquired by
Fruit of the Loom, a subsidiary of
Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from ...
, in 2006.
[Acquisition of Russell Corporation Complete]
on Business Wire
History
The beginning: Russell Manufacturing Co.
Russell Corp. established
The original "Russell Manufacturing Company", founded by Benjamin Russell in
Alexander City, Alabama
Alexander City, known to locals as "Alex City", is the largest city in Tallapoosa County, Alabama, United States, with a population of 14,843 as of the 2020 census. It has been the largest community in Tallapoosa County since 1910. It is kno ...
, in 1902,
[Russell Corporation history in "Reference for Business" website]
/ref> became "Russell Corporation" in 1973, under the presidency of Eugene C. Gwaltney, Jr., who had taken over in 1968.[
By 1990, the company owned and operated 13 sewing plants outside Alexander City and employed 15,000 workers. Since 1976, sales revenues had increased by 13 percent annually. With the acquisition of two subsidiaries, Quality Mills in North Carolina and Cloathbond Ltd. in Scotland, in 1988 and 1989 respectively, the company had become a global contender in the sportswear industry.
Under president and ]CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
John C. Adams, Russell Corporation had become the top manufacturer of athletic uniforms in the US. In 1992, the company was awarded a five-year contract to be the exclusive producer and marketer of athletic uniforms for most MLB
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
teams. The contract also stipulated that the company held the exclusive right to manufacture and market replicas of major league uniforms, T-shirts and shorts. This put the company in an advantageous position in relation to its main rival, Champion, Inc., the supplier of uniforms to the NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
teams. In 1992 alone, Russell's international sales increased by 40 percent over 1991.[
]
Major restructuring
Although sales and net income reached record levels in 1996, in part because of the impact of the Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...
which were held in Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
that year, Russell's fortunes turned down in 1997 when both sales and net income fell. The decline was caused by intensifying competition as industry-wide over-capacity and price-cutting by rivals forced Russell to lower its own prices, all of which hurt the company's results. Particularly troubled was the Licensed Products Division, which Russell dissolved in 1997, dividing its operations among the other divisions. In 1997, Russell also ended its licensing deals with the professional football, basketball and hockey leagues.
In early 1998, as the company's troubles continued, Adams retired. John "Jack" Ward stepped in as chairman, president and CEO. Within months of his arrival, Russell announced a major restructuring. Over a three-year period, the company planned to eliminate about 4,000 jobs, or 23 percent of its workforce; close about 25 of its 90 plants, distribution centers and other facilities; and move most of the final assembly of garments abroad, to Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
and elsewhere in the Caribbean basin. The company expected to take charges of $100 to $125 million during the restructuring period. Russell hoped these efforts would result in annual savings of $50–$70 million. Part of these funds would then be used to bolster the marketing and advertising of Russell's brands, including tripling the advertising budget to $25 million per year. Russell also established a second headquarters in Atlanta in February 1999.
Restructuring charges led Russell to post a net loss for fiscal year 1998 of $10.4 million on revenues of $1.18 billion. Results for the first half of 1999 also showed a net loss of $12.9 million but the restructuring had resulted in a decrease in selling, general and administration costs of 13 percent. Russell had also increased its offshore apparel assembly to 55 percent of total capacity, a substantial increase from the 17 percent level before the restructuring was launched. Russell had far to go before it could be considered fully turned around, but it appeared that the company was well on its way.[
The company completed its restructuring process in 2001. Nearly all of its retail outlets had been closed, over 6,000 jobs had been cut, and most of its manufacturing operations had moved abroad. In 2000, Russell Corp. acquired the apparel operations for Haas Outdoors, Inc.. This later became the ]Mossy Oak
Mossy Oak is a West Point, Mississippi–based branded camouflage and outdoor lifestyle company founded by Toxey Haas in 1986. Mossy Oak is owned and operated by its parent company Haas Outdoors, Inc.
History
Haas, an avid outdoorsman, gained ...
Apparel Company. In 2002, the company added the Bike Athletic Company
Bike Athletic Company is an American sportswear company with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. They invented the jockstrap in 1874 for bicyclists in Boston. The firm sold over 350 million jockstraps.
The company later produced additional protect ...
and Spalding to its holding. Russell continued its acquisition spree in 2004 by purchasing American Athletic Inc. (AAI), Huffy Corp.'s sports division and Brooks Sports
Brooks Sports, Inc., also known as Brooks Running, is an American sports equipment company that designs and markets high-performance men's and women's sneakers, clothing, and accessories. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Brooks products are ...
. It also secured an extended contract to provide Spalding and Huffy branded products to the National Basketball Association.
The company faced challenges in 2005 due to rising costs and falling sales. During Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, over 40 containers of Russell products were lost or destroyed and nearly 70 percent of the ports it used for shipping were closed. Amid intense competition and faltering profits, the company launched a restructuring plan much like the effort of the late 1990s. Russell continued shifting its manufacturing base overseas and cut a total of 2,300 jobs.
Conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from which it invests the float (the retained premiums) ...
. acquired Russell Corporation for $600 million in early 2006. Berkshire, led by the billionaire Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net w ...
, believed Russell would be a good fit with its Fruit of the Loom Inc. subsidiary.[
]
Brands
The Russell Corporation was made up of the following brands and their products:
;Notes
Honduran labor controversy and boycott
Since January 2009, Russell faced the largest collegiate boycott
A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...
of an apparel company in history over labor violations in its Honduran factories. The boycott was co-ordinated by United Students Against Sweatshops in the United States and Canada in support of the Honduran garment workers' union SITRAJERZEESH.
The Worker Rights Consortium The Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) is an independent labor rights monitoring organization focused on protecting the rights of workers who sew apparel and make other products sold in the United States, particularly those bearing college or university ...
has documented violations of the rights of workers by Russell in its factory Jerzees de Honduras. The report found that Russell illegally fired nearly 2,000 in two of its factories, in retaliation for employees protesting against working conditions and forming a union. The report also stated that death threats were allegedly made against some members of the union, though not by senior management.[
]
In response, over eighty universities have canceled their contracts with Russell, including Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
, Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
, Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, University of Miami
The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...
, University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
, University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
, University of Houston
The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...
, Penn State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...
, Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. T ...
, University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...
, Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
, Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
, and the University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...
in Scotland.[
]
On May 13, 2009, sixty-five members of Congress
A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
wrote to Russell CEO John Holland to express their concern over the labor violations. On June 25, 2009, Russell became the first collegiate licensee to be placed on probation
Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration.
In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...
by the Fair Labor Association
The Fair Labor Association (FLA) is a non-profit collaborative effort of universities, civil society organizations, and businesses.
It describes its mission as promoting adherence to international and national labor laws.
History
The FLA was ...
.
At first, Russell said it was being unfairly targeted by the garment workers' union and student activists, and that the plant closure was due to the general downturn in the world economy. Five schools announced they planned to continue doing business with Russell. However, at least one of those, the University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
, has since terminated its licensing deal with Russell. The company had issued a statement noting that it had recognized the unionization of the Jerzees de Honduras plant on October 3, 2007. In later statements, the company admitted wrongdoing, although the violations are yet to be resolved.,"Russell Athletic open letter"
July 15, 2009 (retrieved July 31, 2009).
Sponsorships
Throughout its history, Russell Corporation was involved in the manufacturing and selling of equipment for many professional, collegiate and high school sports teams. Most notable of these are its stint of manufacturing uniforms for MLB
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(through its flagship brand, Russell Athletic
Russell Athletic is an American clothing manufacturer based in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Currently a subsidiary of global company Fruit of the Loom, Russell Athletic was the main brand of Russell Brands, LLC. until its acquisition in 2006. ), the production of official basketballs for the NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
(through its subsidiary Spalding), and the production of official footballs for the AFL
AFL may refer to:
Sports
* American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues:
** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...
(under the Sherrin
Sherrin is a brand of football used in Australian rules football and is the official ball of the Australian Football League, designed to its official specifications. It was the first ball designed specifically for the sport.
Sherrin footba ...
Brand).
See also
* Russell Athletic
Russell Athletic is an American clothing manufacturer based in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Currently a subsidiary of global company Fruit of the Loom, Russell Athletic was the main brand of Russell Brands, LLC. until its acquisition in 2006.
* Fruit of the Loom
References
External links
Fruit of the Loom
current company
(Archive)
{{Berkshire Hathaway
Companies based in Alexander City, Alabama
Berkshire Hathaway
Sporting goods manufacturers of the United States
Sportswear brands
Clothing companies established in 1902
1902 establishments in Alabama
2006 mergers and acquisitions