London Fog

History

By its third decade during World War II (1939/1941–1945), the Londontown Manufacturing Company was known for making waterproof clothing for the United States Navy. Following the war the company partnered with DuPont of Wilmington, Delaware to make material for use in raincoats. These coats, which were the first to have a patented removable liner, were sold in nearby Philadelphia, where they became very popular.

Myers started experimenting with different fabrics in 1951, working with blends of cotton and polyester to help make a waterproof fabric. London Fog introduced its first Maincoat and was found/sold in Saks Fifth Avenue luxury department stores in 1954, being one of the first companies to sell the raincoats and trench coats. The coat originally sold for $29.95, and named as a "Maincoat" by Myers so it could be worn all year around. The company went public in the 1960s. By the 1970s the company had its own stores and was manufacturing not only raincoats but also other types of clothes and accessories. At the time two-thirds of all raincoats sold in the United States were London Fog. London Fog expanded internationally during the 1990s selling in places like the United Kingdom (Great Britain) and China.

By 1976 Interco bought the Londontown Manufacturing Company, Inc. / London Fog, then in a Wall Street take over, they leveraged a buyout that then pushed the company into bankruptcy by 1991. Ultimately the company was renamed to "London Fog Inc."

The original location of the Londontown Manufacturing Company, Inc. included its longtime London Fog mill factory building, which operated for almost four decades. In the 1950s, a small single-story office structure was added at the northwest corner (facing Clipper Mill Road and Union Avenue), along with a large, two-story concrete-walled warehouse annex on the south side, adjacent to the stream bank.

The Londontown Company President Israel Myers (c. 1906–1999), who attended / graduated in 1927 from The Baltimore City College, in the last class to graduate from its old third of four major building sites (before the move in April 1928 to its current landmark stone "Castle on the Hill" structure of Collegiate Gothic architecture on "Collegian Hill" at 33rd Street and The Alameda). The old City College then at the southwest corner of North Howard and West Centre Streets and adjacent to the first downtown campus of The Johns Hopkins University, was an all-boys secondary institution, recognized as the third oldest public high school in America, founded 1839. It has a unique academic reputation with a humanities / liberal arts / social studies and Classics traditions and has had many honored alumni and faculty since. He is pictured and described in "The 1927 Green Bag" yearbook. Myers was later inducted into the B.C.C. Hall of Fame as an outstanding alumnus / "Collegian", Baltimorean / Marylander and businessman / entrepreneur and is listed / pictured in the series of commemorative plaques in the Memorial Corridor at The Castle.