Men electing the Obama suit by Hartmarx
CHICAGO'S HARTMAX | Wool two-button model retails for $1,500
Michelle Obama, move aside as the fashion plate.
Shoppers have started asking for the Obama suit -- the navy blue, worsted-wool, two-button suit that Chicago's Hartmarx tailored just for Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama.
(Courtesy/AP)
Even Hartmarx CEO Homi Patel bought four of them.
The Hart Schaffner Marx suits are sold at retail as the Gold Trumpeter collection. In department stores, they go for $1,500 apiece.
Now, Obama has bought two more of the suits in blue and three in gray -- all the same silhouette and material -- single-breasted, 97 percent worsted wool and 3 percent cashmere. The pleated pants have an inch-and-a-quarter cuffs.
Hartmarx -- at 121 years old the largest suitmaker in the United States -- dismantled its network of 600 unprofitable retail stores a decade ago but has started opening stores in major cities as a marketing device. Its latest is a Hickey Freeman store set to open Saturday at 114 E. Oak St. in Chicago.
A Hart Schaffner Marx boutique could open in downtown Chicago by next year.