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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Clothing |
| Founded | 1922; 103 years ago (1922) |
| Founder | C. N. Williamson and E. E. "Colonel" Dickie |
| Headquarters | Fort Worth, Texas,Costa Mesa, California[1] U.S.A |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Denny Bruce (CEO) |
| Products | Workwear |
| Parent | VF Corporation |
| Website | www.dickies.com |
Williamson-Dickie Mfg. Co. is an American[2] apparel manufacturing company primarily known for its largest brand, Dickies. Williamson-Dickie Europe, originally called Clares, was founded in 1900 inWells, Somerset, U.K. to provide theagricultural industry with hardware andwork clothing. The U.S. corporate division was founded inFort Worth, Texas, in 1922 by C. N. Williamson and E. E. "Colonel" Dickie, who began adenimbib overall company selling workwear to farm and ranch hands around the Southwest. Today, Dickies is a global brand found in more than 100 countries designing,manufacturing and selling workwear to theautomotive,hospitality,construction andmedical industries.[3]
Cousins C. N. Williamson and E. E. "Colonel" Dickie were successful salesmen and had already spent 25 years together selling hats in Texas southwest territory. In 1918, they and a few friends established the U.S.Overall Company inFort Worth, Texas. Then, in 1922, Col. Dickie, C. N. Williamson and his son C. D. Williamson purchased 100% of the Overall Company on a one-third-each basis and renamed it Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Company.
From its early years, Williamson-Dickie enjoyed steady growth which was slowed only by the Great Depression, and duringWorld War II the company produced millions of uniforms for the nation's armed forces. In converting to civilian production after the war, C. Don Williamson began a strategy of geographical expansion and established new production facilities, warehouses, and sales territories throughout the United States. In the late 1950s, Williamson-Dickie became an international company by expanding into the European market and theMiddle Eastern market—where Texas oilmen introduced the Dickies brand toMiddle Eastern oil fields.[4]
In 2008 Williamson-Dickies acquired Kodiak Group Holdings Inc. of Canada.[5]In 2013 Dickies acquired Walls.[6]
In 2014, Jerry Leigh ofCalifornia became the exclusive licensee for Dickies Girl juniors' apparel.[7]
VF Corporation acquired Williamson-Dickie in 2017 for $820 million in cash.[8]
Williamson-Dickie Europe Ltd is based in the U.K. inWestfield, Somerset. Previously known as Dickies UK, this division of the company now operates across the entirety of Europe and the Middle East for both the workwear and streetwear product ranges.
Dickies' headquarters is relocating to California.[9][10]
Dickies is sold in the U.S.,Saudi Arabia,South Africa,Australia,Russia,Chile,South Korea,Japan,Taiwan,Iceland,Canada,Germany,France,Italy,Ireland,Croatia, thePhilippines,Poland,Mongolia andMexico.[11]
In June 2020, Dickies collaborated with the Japanese brand FACETASM[12] creating a capsule collection.[13]
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