President Obama is getting a new term, and his suit maker is getting a new chance at success.
HMX Group, the New York-based company that owns the Hickey Freeman and Hart Schaffner Marx labels, has been scooped out of bankruptcy in a deal that saves 1,100 US manufacturing jobs.
Authentic Brands Group — which owns the Prince Sports brand, rights to Marilyn Monroe’s image and the Tapout martial-arts clothing line — will pay $72.3 million for HMX after an auction this week failed to attract rival bids.
In an interview with The Post yesterday, Authentic Brands CEO Jamie Salter said he will license the Hickey Freeman and Hart Schaffner Marx labels exclusively to the factories in Rochester, NY, and Chicago, respectively, which have manufactured them for years.
“‘Made in the USA’ is becoming a lot more attractive to consumers,” Salter told The Post. “I don’t want to compare Hickey to Harley-Davidson, but they’re both brands that are made in the USA, and people like them.”
The news is a relief for 430 workers who cut garments at Hickey Freeman’s Rochester factory — 300 of which are unionized. In October, bankrupt HMX warned the employees they might lose their jobs.
Likewise, about 600 workers at the Chicago-area Hart Schaffner Marx factory will keep their jobs — a happy outcome that surprised some insiders.
The domestic factories will be owned and operated by Doug Williams, a former Ralph Lauren exec who took the helm of HMX as it emerged from bankruptcy in 2010.
HMX filed for Chapter 11 in October after SKNL, its India-based owner, refused to pump cash into its bloated operations, sources said.
But Williams said he has slashed $30 million in overhead without losing union jobs.
“Our expectation is to be profitable in year one,” Williams said.
While HMX will continue to distribute its suits at higher-priced department stores like Nordstrom, Saks and Neiman Marcus, Salter said he aims to sell US-made Hickey Freeman outfits at outlets overseas in Europe and China.
“We need to make [Hickey] younger and cooler,” Salter said.