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As picture here, the Corbin outlet store in downtown
Huntington was first located
at 416 10th. St. Latter it moved to the Radisson Hotel.
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HUNTINGTON --
In 1946, Nathan Corbin, a Russian immigrant, and his sons
Lee and Howard founded
a clothing manufacturing company in Brooklyn, New York.
But they grew
tired of the seemingly constant strife with their Brooklyn workforce, so in 1957
they
packed everything up and headed to Huntington, where Corbin Ltd.,
opened a
small plant with 40 workers.
Corbin was
making the right product at the right time. It introduced flat-front men's
trousers that were a far cry
from the voluminous pleated pants other
manufacturers had long been making. Many men eagerly
ditched their old pleated
pants in favor of Corbin's trim-fitting version,
marketed across the country at
top-of-the-line retailers.
The clothing
company grew rapidly. Soon it added suits and sport coats for men and a stylish
line of women's
clothing. By 1988 Corbin's annual revenues had grown to $50
million,
with more than 1,000
workers at its plants in Huntington and Ashland.
Bargain-conscious shoppers flocked to the company's outlet stores in downtown
Huntington,
at the Huntington Mall and in Charleston.
But in 2003,
facing rising production costs and increasingly costly employee benefits, Corbin
management
decided to
change its business model; from that of primarily a
manufacturer to that of primarily a
wholesaler of specialty menswear. It closed
its plants in Huntington and
Ashland and laid off its few remaining workers.
In April
2003, Corbin filed for bankruptcy protection. Shortly thereafter, the
Individualized
Apparel Group (IAG)
purchased Corbin's assets. The Huntington and
Ashland plants were not part of the IAG deal.
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Note: This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on Mar. 30 , 2015
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