OshKosh B'Gosh is a children's
apparel company founded in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1895. It is currently a
subsidiary of Carter's.
Originally a small-town
manufacturer of adult work clothing, it has become best known for its
children's clothing, especially bib overalls. The original children's overalls,
dating from the early twentieth century, were intended to let parents dress
their children like their fathers. According to the company, sales of the
product increased after Miles Kimball, an Oshkosh-based mail-order catalog,
featured a pair of the overalls in its national catalog in 1960. As a result,
OshKosh began to sell their products through department stores and expanded
their children's line. Children's clothing made up fifteen percent of the
company's sales in 1979; by 1993 that number was 95 percent.
an example Oshkosh shortalls
in the train engineer's style
 |
| reference: Google's image |
Oshkosh B'Gosh clothes are no
longer made in Oshkosh. Steady downsizing of domestic operations and a massive
increase in outsourcing and manufacturing at Mexican and Honduran subsidiaries
saw the domestic manufacturing share drop below 10% by the year 2000. The
company was sold to Carter's, another clothing manufacturer in 2005 for $312
million, though it still operates under the original name and maintains a
corporate headquarters in Oshkosh. Today, the company sells accessories, jeans,
pants, shirts, sweaters, t-shirts and tank tops, and its trademark overalls.
The company produces clothing for babies, infants, toddlers, kids (4-7), and
youth (5-12). For a time, OshKosh also made clothing for men and women, but
stopped making adult sizes because of poor sales. The company also has over one
hundred outlet stores in the United States of America. (reference: Wikipedia)
