Fruit of The Loom is Responsible for This

Fruit of the Loom is a brand that has existed for 170 years and during that time, it has been responsible for several trends that changed the course of retail, marketing, and apparel.

Here are four trends that Fruit of the Loom is responsible for:

Underwear Being Sold in Packs

That’s right, they haven’t always been sold in packs. It was only in the late 1940s, when the Union Underwear Company started selling them in packs of 3 pairs. Why are we suddenly talking about the Union Underwear Company in an article about Fruit of The Loom?

Well Fruit of the Loom is also responsible for showing the world…

The Value of Rebranding

When Fruit of the Loom was established in 1851, it mainly produced cotton textiles and cloth. In 1928, the company started selling licences to its brand to clothing manufacturers. The Union Underwear Company was one of them. 

As the name implies, the Union Underwear Company made underwear and sold it under Fruit of the Loom’s brand. Using clever advertising techniques, Fruit of the Loom made waves in the undergarment industry.

Eventually, Fruit of the Loom became known more as an undergarment company and less as a producer of cloth.

Instead of reinforcing the company’s original branding, they leaned into their new niche.

They even went as far as selling Fruit of the Loom Licensing Company to The Union Underwear Company, with the latter taking over the former’s name.

Despite changing leadership, Fruit of the Loom retained its distinctive logo. After all, the company is also responsible for showcasing…

The Value of Branding

Fruit of the Loom wasn’t actually the company’s original name. It was established as The B.B. and R. Knight Corporation, named after its founders Benjamin and Robert Knight.

Five years after they founded the company, Robert Knight sold some cloth to his friend Rufus Skeel. Skeel was a simple reseller. But his daughter had other ideas. She started painting apples on some of the bolts of cloth that they sold. And surprisingly, the ones with the apple paintings sold more than the plain ones.

When Robert Knight caught wind of this, he decided to use that apple painting as the company trademark and to rename their company to Fruit of the Loom. Over the years, that trademark changed from a hyperrealistic painting to today’s cartoony illustration, but the original fruits have been retained. 

Changing the style of its artwork to fit the aesthetic of the current generation is one of the reasons why Fruit of the Loom is still relevant after 170 years. Another reason why is the company’s focus on…

Comfort Over Style

Fruit of the Loom’s latest advertising endeavour is their release of “Fruitisms,” which are short videos that contain witty observations about the importance of comfort in clothes.

The company now sells all kinds of apparel, from undies, to Fruit of the Loom polo shirts, to hoodies and t-shirts. And yet most of the actors in their Fruitism shorts are shown in their undies. One reason for this is, well, we are most comfortable in our undies.

But we can’t help but think that this is Fruit of the Loom paying respects to their very first advertisements. After all, you can’t blame a 170 year old company for waxing nostalgic about their humble beginnings.