The Arrow Collar Man was the name given to the various male models who appeared in advertisements for shirts and detachable shirt collars manufactured by

Cluett Peabody & Company Cluett Peabody & Company, Inc. once headquartered in Troy, New York, was a longtime manufacturer of shirts, detachable shirt cuffs and collars, and related apparel. It is best known for its Arrow brand collars and shirts and the related Arrow Col ...

Troy, New York Troy is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County, New York, Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Huds ...

. The original campaign ran from 1905–31, though the company continued to refer to men in its ads and its consumers as "Arrow men" much later. ''The Arrow Collar'' ads were a collaborative production of New York ad agency Calkins and Holden; Cluett, Peabody advertising director Charles Connolly; and commercial illustrator

J. C. Leyendecker Joseph Christian Leyendecker (March 23, 1874 – July 25, 1951) was a German-American illustrator, considered one of the preeminent American illustrators of the early 20th century. He is best known for his poster, book and advertising illustrati ...

. One of Leyendecker's models was his partner, a Canadian named Charles Beach. Another model was a young

Huntley Gordon Huntley Ashworth Gordon (October 8, 1879 – December 7, 1956) was a Canadian actor who began his career in the Silent Film era. Profile Gordon was born in Montreal, Quebec, educated in both Canada and England. He had various jobs including w ...

. According to Leyendecker himself, there were six men besides Beach who posed for the Arrow Collar ads:

Jack Mulhall John Joseph Francis Mulhall (October 7, 1887 – June 1, 1979) was an American film actor beginning in the silent film era who successfully transitioned to sound films, appearing in over 430 films in a career spanning 50 years. Early years Mu ...

, Neil Hamilton, Robert Allen,

Brian Donlevy Waldo Brian Donlevy (February 9, 1901 – April 6, 1972) was an American actor, noted for playing dangerous tough guys from the 1930s to the 1960s. He usually appeared in supporting roles. Among his best-known films are ''Beau Geste'' (193 ...

Mahlon Hamilton Mahlon Preston Hamilton, Jr. (June 15, 1880 – June 20, 1960), was an American stage and screen actor. He was the son of a bartender born in Baltimore, Maryland, the eldest of four children, with the rest of the siblings being girls. Census ...

, and

Reed Howes Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * R ...

. Hundreds of printed advertisements were produced from 1907 to 1931 featuring the Arrow Collar Man. The fictional Arrow collar man became an icon and by 1920 was receiving fan mail. Fans would cut their favorite collar men out of advertisements and hang them on their wall. He inspired a

Broadway musical Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

Helen of Troy Helen of Troy, Helen, Helena, (Ancient Greek: Ἑλένη ''Helénē'', ) also known as beautiful Helen, Helen of Argos, or Helen of Sparta, was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believe ...

'' in 1923. In 2004, the Arrow brand was acquired by longtime competitor Philips-Van Heusen, owner of the Van Heusen brand. Under PVH, the Arrow brand was positioned as a slightly less expensive complement to the Van Heusen brand. On June 23, 2021, it was announced that the Arrow brand would be sold to

Authentic Brands Group Authentic Brands Group LLC (ABG) is an American brand management company headquartered in New York City. Its holdings include various apparel, athletics, and entertainment brands, for which it partners with other companies to license and merchand ...

alongside Van Heusen, Izod, and Geoffrey Beene. The sale was completed on August 2, 2021, with United Legwear & Apparel Company named as its licensee. Today, the Arrow (officially stylized as ARROW) trademark is owned by

and is manufactured and marketed by United Legwear & Apparel Company under a long-term licensing agreement. Currently in the United States, the primary retailer for the brand is online retailer Amazon.com. The brand was formerly sold by

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gi ...

, and

Kohl's Kohl's (stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain, operated by Kohl's Corporation. it is the largest department store chain in the United States, with 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Haw ...

Attached collars

In the early 1920s, Cluett, Peabody & Co. began manufacturing their shirts with attached collars in response to consumer demand and became the most successful company in the U.S. at that time. Their sales increased to 4 million collars a week and Arrow shirts with attached collars were being exported to foreign ports such as Batavia (

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...

) and the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

. The Arrow Collar Man campaign ended in 1930, having been one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history. Francis X

In popular culture

* Lyrics from Irving Berlin song "Puttin' on the Ritz" include the line "High hats and Arrow collars..." in the second verse, 1946 version. * Cole Porter referred to "Arrow Collars" in his song: "You're The Top" from the 1934 musical ''

Anything Goes ''Anything Goes'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap ant ...

''. * Lyrics sung by Julie in F.S. Fitzgerald's comic one-act play "Porcelain and Pink" from the 1922 short story collection ''Tales of the Jazz Age'' include the lines "When the Arrow-collar man / Meets the D'jer-Kiss girl". * In Season 2 Episode 9 of

30 Rock ''30 Rock'' is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live'', tak ...

Jack Donaghy John Francis "Jack" Donaghy ( ) is a fictional character on the NBC sitcom ''30 Rock'', airing from 2006 to 2013. The character was created by series creator Tina Fey, and is portrayed by Alec Baldwin. He was introduced as the Vice President of Ea ...

is described by Liz Lemon's father as "looking like an Arrow Shirt Model" after he's stunned by Jack's appearance.

References

External links

PVH Heritage Brands

Arrow

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arrow Collar Man Fictional models Tops (clothing) Neckwear Authentic Brands Group 2021 mergers and acquisitions

Attached collars

In popular culture

References

Further reading

External links