Brooks Brothers, which dressed 40 US presidents, files for bankruptcy

Brooks Brothers Group Inc filed for bankruptcy, felled by the pandemic’s impact on clothing sales and its own heavy debt load. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in Delaware allows Brooks Brothers to keep operating while it works out a plan to turn the business around and pay its debts. The company that says it’s put 40 US presidents in its suits, survived two World Wars and navigated through casual Fridays and a loosening of dress standards even on Wall Street, but the Covid-19 pandemic pushed the 200-year-old company into seek Chapter 11 protection. Brooks Brothers, which calls itself the oldest US clothing retailer, has dressed US presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, and now sells men’s, women’s and children’s clothing.