The #1 Dress Shirt Brand in America. Van Heusen is the nation’s top dress shirt brand and a name that has come to be synonymous with men’s style.

The Brand

America's #1 dress shirt brand, Van Heusen, has been associated with stylish, affordable and high-quality dress shirts since the introduction of the patented Van Heusen "soft folding" collar in 1921. This only added to the history of its manufacturer, Phillips-Jones Company, Inc., a shirt company with a history that dated back to 1881. The Van Heusen brand has had remarkable success throughout the world and, particularly, in the United States, where it has been the best-selling dress shirt brand since 1991. Also a leading national brand in the sportswear market, Van Heusen is ranked as the best-selling woven sport shirt brand in the United States. The Van Heusen brand has proven strong enough to expand its reach beyond its dress shirt heritage into successful product lines in both men's and women's dress, sportswear and accessories.

Not content to lead the market with product alone, we have long been an innovator in apparel marketing and promotion. For example, Van Heusen dress shirts were advertised in national editions of the popular newspaper, Saturday Evening Post. During the Golden Age of Advertising, PVH became one of the first companies in the world to use Hollywood celebrities and sports figures to endorse its brand. Celebrities including Mickey Rooney, Tony Curtis, Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Burt Lancaster, Jimmy Stewart, and President Ronald Regan have all proudly worn Van Heusen dress shirts. We were also one of the first apparel brands with advertising at a sport stadium, adorning outfield walls at both Ebbets Field and Yankee Stadium.

The Van Heusen brand has been owned worldwide by PVH since 2001, and we continue to reach out to the Van Heusen consumer with the messages they understand best. Most recently, in 2010, the Van Heusen Institute of Style campaign launched, featuring Steve Young and Jerry Rice as "Professors of Style" talking to the modern American man about taking pride in dressing up. The multi-media campaign brings sports heroes into men's living rooms to provide tips on fashion, and is predicated on the idea that men need only a bit of guidance to go from "schlub to swagger." These professors of style focus on the very tenets of the Van Heusen brand's continued success - fit, fabric, finish and innovative fashion at a fraction of the cost of luxury brand dress shirts.

Today, Van Heusen products are sold in major department stores, as well as in our Van Heusen company stores within North America. The brand also has international appeal, with 29 licensees covering more than 80 territories worldwide in product categories including men's, women's and children's dresswear, sportswear and accessories. Van Heusen products are distributed in both department stores and in approximately 116 Van Heusen stores outside the U.S.

The History

The Van Heusen story began in 1881 in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, with Moses and his son Isaac Phillips who sold shirts, made at home by Moses' wife Endel and their daughters, to the local coal miners. After achieving success in this limited market, Moses Phillips expanded the operation to New York City. The family business had officially transitioned from small town to the national stage.

While the Phillips family was developing its business in New York, another key brand component was in development elsewhere. John Manning van Heusen, a Dutch immigrant, created a new process that fused cloth on a curve, fashioning a "soft-folding" collar that captured the stiff-collar look of the era while affording the wearer a more comfortable fit. In New York, van Heusen met with Isaac Phillips, who bought Mr. van Heusen's U.S. patent for his "soft-folding" collar, and the Phillips-Van Heusen alliance, and The World's Smartest Collar, were born. As times changed, so did the company. PVH added other brands to its product lines and trimmed away some of its Van Heusen businesses by licensing them to third parties, while maintaining the core dress and sport shirt businesses. PVH continues to invest in Van Heusen's core dress and sport shirt products, and has expanded into a more comprehensive offering of apparel and accessories for men, women and children, both through its own retail stores and its licensing organization.