![]() ![]() Its atmospheric advertisements, filmed in London, featured what would become its long-running slogan: ''London Fog lets you laugh at the weather.''īy the late 70's, the company dominated the men's raincoat business, selling six of every eight men's raincoats bought in the United States. In 1969, Londontown became the first clothing manufacturer to advertise directly on television rather than relying on retailers for promotion. ![]() Later in the 1960's, the company began to expand into other styles and colors and eventually began to make a range of outerwear from golfing jackets to heavy car coats. Londontown soon introduced a version of the maincoat for women, which became popular in the late 1950's and early 60's as women's fashion emulated men's clothing. Myers's experiments with polyester allowed the company to introduce other innovations, including a wash-and-wear coat and a zip-out lining. Myers called it a maincoat because he intended it to be worn year round in all weather. Rather than the double-breasted and belted trench coat, the new model was a more streamlined single-breasted design called a balmacaan. The $29.95 coat, introduced by Saks Fifth Avenue with an ad in Look magazine featuring a model in front of a foggy background, was an immediate hit. It quickly became the company's signature product. After working with DuPont to perfect the fabric so that it could be used in automated manufacturing equipment, the company introduced the London Fog Maincoat in 1954. Myers started experimenting with a fabric that was 50 percent cotton and 50 percent Dacron polyester, a blend that was both lightweight and waterproof. After the war, Londontown found a receptive market for its trench coats at leading retailers like Sears, Roebuck & Company and the J. The company's big break came during the war, when the Army ordered 10,000 raincoats. Myers started his own men's clothing company under the name Londontown Manufacturing. Myers obtained the rights to the Londontown name by agreeing to help the creditors liquidate its assets. The company collapsed during the Depression, and Mr. By 1927, the company changed its name to Londontown Clothes and began to focus on expensive men's suits and coats. Myers worked for that company, with increasingly more responsible jobs, while earning a law degree at the University of Maryland at night. Myers was hired as a stenographer with the Makover, Roten Company, a maker of naval officers clothing. He became a statewide champion in shorthand while attending Baltimore City College. Myers, the son of a tailor, was born in Lynchburg, Va., but moved as a boy to Baltimore. The design and pioneering use of polyester blends helped Londontown become the dominant maker of men's coats in the United States in the 1960's and 70's. Myers's Londontown Manufacturing Company was the first to popularize the military trench coat for civilian wear. He was 93.Īfter making raincoats for the Army in World War II, Mr. Israel Myers, the originator of the London Fog raincoat, died on Sunday at the North Oaks retirement community in Pikesville, Md. ![]()
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