Mister Leonard was a leading Canadian women's

sportswear Sportswear or activewear is athletic clothing, including footwear, worn for sports activity or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Typical spor ...

company. It was founded in 1965, by Leonard Wasser and Sam Gertner, growing out of their previous company Pantman.Strauss,Marina. "Mister Leonard Bows out of Rag Trade." The Globe and Mail,12/9/1999. Mister Leonard grew to become one of the country's leading apparel manufacturers, at its prime doing 90 million plus in annual sales, and becoming the largest garment employer in the city of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario. The company also was amongst the first Canadian manufacturers to set up production in

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. A rapidly changing economic and retail environment, coupled with founder Sam Gertner's increasing health problems in the late 20th century put a difficult strain on the company and in 1999 Sam Gertner decided to shut down the company.

Early years

Mister Leonard evolved out of a previous partnership between Sam Gertner, Syd Stein, and Leonard Wasser in the Company Pantman. Pantman manufactured men's styled fly-front pants for women. A concept so foreign at the time that one confused model employed by the company famously zipped them up with the zipper on the back. In 1965, Wasser and Gertner left to form Mister Leonard, receiving their first order from

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.Millstein, Alan. "Mister Leonard's Survival Instinct." Bobbin, September 1993. Mister Leonard saw Gertner and Wasser branching out from manufacturing solely women's pants, to skirts, jackets, blouses and sweaters. The company split its clothing into several lines including Mister Leonard, Garey Petites, Lauren Jefferies, and Pant Man. Mister Leonard based its operation out of 431 King Street, home to its corporate office and factory. Mister Leonard goods were featured in both retail chains, including Eatons,

Simpsons (department store) The Robert Simpson Company Limited, commonly known as Simpson's until 1972, then as Simpsons, and in Quebec sometimes as Simpson, was a Canadian department store chain that had its earliest roots in a store opened in 1858 by Robert Simpson. I ...

, and

Woodward's Woodward's Stores Ltd. was a department store chain that operated in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, for 101 years, before its sale to the Hudson's Bay Company. History Charles Woodward established the first Woodward store at the corner o ...

as well as independent stores across the nation. Independent stores would end up providing the company with well over 75 percent of its business, with the line doing extremely well in small towns across the country. Key to the company's growth were trade tariffs preventing competition from abroad. As well, the company thrived due to Gertner's tenacity and reputation as a tough deal maker, earning him the nickname the "Iron Fist". Prior to free trade, the company had working relationships and exchanged data with US sportswear makers

Liz Claiborne Anne Elisabeth Jane Claiborne (March 31, 1929 – June 26, 2007) was an American fashion designer and businesswoman. Her success was built upon stylish yet affordable apparel for career women featuring colorfully tailored separates that cou ...

Jones Apparel Group Nine West Holdings (formerly The Jones Group and Jones Apparel Group) is an American designer, marketer and wholesaler of branded clothing, shoes and accessories. In 2019, the company restructured under the new name Premier Brands Group Holding ...

, and

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. Mister Leonard also found themselves combining fabric orders with their Seventh Avenue counterparts, in order to meet minimum yardage requirements for fabric purchases.

Peak and downfall

In 1978, Gertner took sole control of the company as a result of a buyout clause between him and Wasser. Many people privately took bets on how long it would take for Mister Leonard to go bankrupt under the reins of Gertner, yet, in the face of this lack of confidence the company thrived and grew to new heights. In the mid-1980s the company managed more than 50 million in sales, an impressive number considering the fact that the company solely sold its apparel domestically. The company continued its upward trajectory until 1988, when the signing of

NAFTA The North American Free Trade Agreement (, TLCAN; , ALÉNA), referred to colloquially in the Anglosphere as NAFTA, ( ) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that created a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The ...

, the beginning of the

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, and the suffering of a stroke by Gertner halted the company's progress. As a result of Sam's stroke, his sons Lorne and Jeffery took over the company. Although the company failed to return to its peak, the Gertner brothers managed to keep the company profitable by upgrading the factory's manufacturing technology, putting together standalone soft shops, acquiring the license for

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, women's wear in Canada, and downaging the company's garments. In 1997, Sam Gertner took over the reins of the company again from his sons, but health problems forced him to wind down Mister Leonard in 1999.

References

{{Reflist Clothing companies of Canada Clothing manufacturers Defunct manufacturing companies of Canada Manufacturing companies based in Toronto Clothing companies established in 1965 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1999 Privately held companies of Canada 1965 establishments in Ontario 1999 disestablishments in Ontario