Hathaway a Miss in D.C.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 02, 2002–The poster for the new Hathaway retail store in the nation’s capital shows off a handsome young man: sharply dressed, wearing a crisp Hathaway shirt and tie. The poster reads, “Support America in Style. Hathaway. Made in the USA since 1837.”
Since its grand opening last month, the Hathaway store in downtown Washington remains in a disorganized state. The trademark button-down shirts are stacked messily on the shelves, still wrapped in plastic. An untidy array of neckties is displayed on a circular wooden table, and bowties hang in the corner of the small store on Connecticut Avenue.
“That shirt in the window looks sick,” Marcus Lincoln, 19, said referring to a wrinkled button-down shirt and tie. Lincoln, who was dressed in a muscle-shirt, is the store’s only salesman.
The Hathaway clothes are only part of the store’s meager inventory. Other items in the store, including boxer shorts and plain cotton shirts, are from companies that make clothing in the United States such as Sweat X, based in Los Angeles, and No Fly Zone.
“I can’t push sales with a store looking like this,” Lincoln said.
The Made in the USA Foundation owns Hathaway’s two retail shops, one of which is located in Freeport. The Hathaway merchandise is being sold at full price in the Washington location, even though the factory in Maine is expected to close permanently on Oct.18. Meanwhile, the foundation chairman, Joel Joseph, has said his organization is still trying to buy the company.
Joseph said in a phone interview that since the shop is small, with only one salesman, the store would remain closed on a normal business day “if an employee calls in sick.”
Lincoln said that according to Joseph, an expected shipment of merchandise is on its way to the Washington store. “He said that shipment was coming. It was supposed to arrive last week,” Lincoln said. “It’s probably his [Joseph’s] fault.”
The shop is supposed to be open for business seven days a week, but it was closed on Tuesday. Joseph is scheduled to work Mondays and Tuesdays at the D.C. store, according to Lincoln, who works from Wednesdays to Sundays.
Joseph did not return a follow-up phone call for comment on Lincoln’s remarks.
Overall, Hathaway’s century-old solid reputation of fine quality shirts does not seem to make a difference in some people’s eyes.
“It’s still $45 a shirt,” Lincoln said. “You can go right around the corner to Filene’s Basement to buy a shirt for less.”
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
