Freedman Company Limited

Corporate body

Freedman Company Limited

n.d.

The family business of Freedman Company Limited was originally founded in 1887 as S. Freedman Sons and Co. Ltd. It was taken over in 1906 by Lyon Cohen, a Montreal industrialist, who in 1913 also took over the business of Friedman Bros. which had been an early pioneer in the men's clothing industry in Canada. In 1937 Mr. Lyon Cohen died and Mr. Horace Cohen, his son, became the Managing Director. From 1941 to 1947 Horace Cohen served as Federal Administrator of Fine Clothing for the Canadian Government during which time the company, in addition to their regular business, became the largest manufacturer of officers' uniforms in Canada. The company was reorganized and officially incorporated as a joint stock company in 1948, with Mr. Horace R. Cohen, and Mr. Moe Levitt acquiring control. In 1952 David D. Cohen, son of Horace, joined the company and was appointed Director in 1962, with particular responsibility for advertising, styling and presentation of the company's products.

In 1955 the company moved to its own building at 5300 Molson Street which served as its head office housing all offices, showrooms and manufacturing facilities. Freedman employed over 650 people and had a capacity of over 3,500 garments at its production height. It was an Amalgamated Clothing (and Textile) Workers of America shop for over 50 years and the recipient of the only citation ever given by the Retail Clothing Merchants Association of Canada for business integrity.

In the 1960's Freedman broadened its market to include Great Britain and the United States. The British market was expanded for several years until a change in the tariff act and devaluation of the pound caused it to dwindle. The American market continued to exand. Freedman clothing was sold through specialty and individual fine men's wear stores and the better clothing divisions of major department stores, such as Eatons and Simpsons, throughout Canada as well as to certain select accounts in the United States.

The Freedman Company Limited dissolved in 1982.

Draft

• English