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Brittania Sportswear

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Brittania Sportswear Ltd was a Wyomissing, PA-based clothing company best known for women's jeans in the 1970s and 1980s.[1][2] It is not to be confused with Britannia Clothing Company, a United Kingdom clothing company.[3]

Brittania Sportswear was launched in 1973 by Walter Schoenfeld in Seattle, WA [4] It once reached sales of $300 million a year and was the country's top-selling blue jean. It plummeted into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1983 because of management problems and changes in fashion tastes.[5] The company was eventually purchased in 1987 by Levi Strauss & Co.[6][7][8][9][10][11] It was sold to VF Jeans (parent of Wrangler and Lee brands) in 1997.

References

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  1. ^ "Advertisement for Men's Britannia Jeans". The Courier. Prescott, Arizona. 1986.
  2. ^ "The Evening Independent - Google News Archive Search".
  3. ^ Honeyman, Katrina (2000). Well Suited: A History of the Leeds Clothing Industry, 1850-1990. ISBN 9780199202379.
  4. ^ Walter Schoenfeld, who reshaped fashion industry, Seattle sports, dies at 84, The Seattle Times, 15 August 2015
  5. ^ Moriwaki, Lee (June 5, 1997). "Lee Jeans Maker Will Buy Brittania -- Deal Lays Off 100 Workers, Wipes Out Local Presence". Seattle Times.
  6. ^ Los Angeles Times
  7. ^ San Francisco Chronicle
  8. ^ San Francisco Chronicle
  9. ^ San Francisco Chronicle
  10. ^ San Francisco Chronicle
  11. ^ "Jeans Fade but Levi Strauss Glows (Published 1989)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2018-09-30.