Homegrown men’s clothing brand will no longer be made in Rochester

Rochester, N.Y. — After 124 years of manufacturing in Rochester, the Hickey Freeman clothing brand will no longer be made there.

The high-end suit brand has been manufactured in Rochester since 1899. Since 1912, it has been produced at a factory on North Clinton Avenue.

But the brand’s current owner, a company called Peerless, has decided to move production to Mexico, according to WHAM in Rochester. The North Clinton factory will remain open and no jobs will be cut.

The facility will produce suits under a new label called Rochester Tailored Clothing. It will also continue producing clothing for other brands, including Brooks Brothers and Todd Snyder, WHAM said.

Hickey Freeman will be made in Mexico starting after June 1, according to RochesterFirst.

A factory official told WHAM that local leaders negotiated with Hickey Freeman’s owner for months, but couldn’t reach a deal to keep production in Rochester. Hickey Freeman production accounted for about 25% of the factory’s work.

The facility will open a new downtown factory store Memorial Day weekend at the corner of South Union and Broad streets. The factory employs 205 people, according to WHEC in Rochester.

Hickey Freeman previously had a store at Destiny USA in Syracuse. It was one of the first tenants announced for the mall’s expansion in 2011, but it closed in 2015.

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