Fashion Alert: Hickey Freeman Readies Its Comeback

You can generally find Arnold Brant Silverstone on lists of Top 100 and Powerful People in anything related to the men’s apparel business. You may have seen him on the Today Show, Extra, ABC or E! where he hosted a red carpet segment for the Academy Awards. He’s has styled wardrobes for CBS Sports, Brad Pitt, Matthew McConaughey, Forest Whitaker and both Al Gore and President George W. Bush. With the backing of Grano Investments he revitalized Montreal-based better men’s -tailored clothier Samuelsohn as a modern luxury lifestyle brand. Last October’s acquisition of iconic Hickey Freeman has now set the stage for what is expected to be one of fashion’s most watched re-launches. Recently Elite Traveler Editor-in-Chief Doug Gollan caught up with Silverstone between market week appointments as he was giving a first look at what he is doing to industry buyers.

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Elite Traveler: What was it like to when you visited Hickey Freeman after the acquisition?

Arnold Brant Silverstone: When we went to Hickey in Rochester to announce the acquisition we brought everyone together in the lunchroom. There were 400 people. Because of the ups and downs you could see on their faces the passion, the hope. You go to Rochester and see what’s happened to the American manufacturing industry. It was a manufacturing hub and there is the infrastructure with highways and hospitals. Xerox and Kodak were based there. I walked in and saw these American workers, some of whom have been there multiple generations, and our message was, ‘We are going to add jobs. We are going to add new products.’ I still get goose bumps. I am passionate and want to grow a nice business but I am also doing it for the people in Rochester.

ET: You come from the industry?

ABS: I grew up in this business. I am third generation. I worked by my dad’s side as a young kid. I remember going to the factory. Some of the salespeople used to joke I was born in Super 130 diapers because they didn’t have Super 200s back then.

ET: What attracted you to Hickey Freeman at this point?

ABS: I’ve coveted Hickey Freeman for a long time. I was raised in this business, and I always had respect for Hickey Freeman. In my dad’s business, when I joined after university, one of the first things we did was expand and add new brands. We went out and got some labels and one of the labels we got was Karl Lagerfeld. Interestingly with Lagerfeld we shared the license with Hickey Freeman. We had Canada. Hickey had the U.S. and we worked together on the project. Growing up, Hickey Freeman was the icon and the jewel of the American clothing industry. We wanted to buy it earlier but it was never for sale alone. Previous owners wouldn’t split it up and (despite its bankruptcy) it’s still a pretty large business.

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