Fruit of the Loom is an American company which manufactures clothing, particularly underwear. The company's world headquarters is in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It is currently a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.

Company profile[link]

Fruit of the Loom headquarters building in Bowling Green, Kentucky

Fruit of the Loom's main business focus is on branded products for consumers ranging from children to senior citizens. The company is one of the largest manufacturers and marketers of men's and boys' underwear, women's and girls' underwear, printable T-shirts and fleece for the activewear industry, casualwear, women's jeanswear and childrenswear.

The company sells its products to all major discount chains and mass merchandisers, wholesale clubs and screenprinters. The company also sells to many department, specialty, drug and variety stores, national chains, supermarkets and sports specialty stores.

Fruit of the Loom offers an unconditional guarantee on all the products it sells. The brand has significant market share for basic apparel. The familiar logo with the apple, leaves, green grapes, currants, and purple grapes is a widely recognizable trademark. The company is a vertically integrated manufacturer.

The company also controls another long-known underwear brand, B.V.D. (Bradley, Voorhees, and Day). Other brands also manufactured and sold by the company are Funpals/FunGals, Screen Stars and Underoos. Brands once owned or marketed by Fruit of the Loom include Gitano, Munsingwear, Salem Sportswear, and Pro Player, which once had the naming rights to what is now Sun Life Stadium (originally Joe Robbie Stadium) in Miami, Florida from 1996 to 2005, despite bankruptcy by the parent company in 1999.

Hanes and Jockey are the main competitors to Fruit of the Loom. The Fruit Of the Loom logo consists of an apple, leaves, green grapes, currants, and purple grapes. In TV commercials for the brand, actors play the roles of only four of the logo's parts: the apple, green grapes, purple grapes, and leaves. The role of "Apple" is played by Rad Daly, and the "Leaf" was at one time played by Academy Award-winning actor F. Murray Abraham, and has been played by Gene Steichen since the Fruit Guys were re-introduced to the public in 2001. "Green Grapes" is played by Richard Steven Horvitz. "Purple Grapes" is played by Wayne Wilderson.

History[link]

The Fruit of the Loom brand dates back to 1851 in Rhode Island when Robert Knight, a textile mill owner, visited his friend, Rufus Skeel. Mr. Skeel owned a small shop in Providence, Rhode Island that sold cloth from Mr. Knight's mill. Mr. Skeel's daughter painted images of apples and applied them to the bolts of cloth. The ones with the apple emblems proved most popular. Mr. Knight thought the labels would be the perfect symbol for his trade name, Fruit of the Loom — a name that bears resemblance to the phrase "fruit of the womb", an expression meaning "children", which can be traced back to use in the Bible (Psalm 127:3).

In 1871, just one year after the first trademark laws were passed by Congress, Mr. Knight received trademark number 418 for the brand, Fruit of the Loom.

Much of its athletic outerwear was sold under the "Pro Player" label, a now defunct division.

The company was part of Northwest Industries, Inc., until NWI was purchased by William F. Farley in 1985 and renamed Farley Industries, Inc. Farley served as President, CEO, and majority shareholder for 15 years. Fruit of the Loom's sales revenue rose from approximately $500 million at the time of NWI's purchase to roughly $2.5 billion nearly 15 years later. Debt financing, once seen as brilliant, proved difficult to manage even as sales revenue quintupled.

Fruit of the Loom filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1999 shortly after posting a net loss of $576.2 million. Its 66 million shares of outstanding common stock dropped in value from about $44 per share in early 1997 to just more than $1 by the spring of 2000. Reasons for the bankruptcy are varied. A large debt load which was assumed in the 1980s, a common practice at the time, did not help. William F. Farley, the company's former chairman, chief executive officer, and chief operating officer was forced out prior to bankruptcy in late 1999, after having piloted the company into massive debt and unproductive business ventures, including structuring the company into an off-shore entity in the Cayman Islands to avoid taxes.

The company was bought from bankruptcy by Berkshire Hathaway Corporation, controlled by legendary investor Warren Buffett, who wanted the valuable brand. He agreed in January 2002 to purchase the company for approximately $835 million in cash. The deal was concluded on April 29, 2002. A condition of the purchase required that former Chief Operating Officer and the then interim CEO, John Holland, remain available to be the CEO for the company.^[1]

The company purchased Russell Corporation, effectively taking the former competitor private in a deal that was completed August 1, 2006.

The company announced the purchase of VF Corporation's intimate apparel company named Vanity Fair Intimates for $350 million in cash on January 23, 2007.^[2]

Students protest outside Fruit of the Loom office in Telford, England over worker rights violations at the company's Honduras factories

References[link]

Notes

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009)

Sources

• Related Textile History - Lippitt Mill Retrieved August 27, 2005.
• History of Chicago Retrieved September 13, 2005.
• Farley looks for Congressional help November 1, 1999.
• Berkshire Hathaway Announcement of Fruit of the Loom Acquisition April 30, 2002.
• Buffett's Berkshire to buy Russell April 17, 2006.

	Kentucky portal
	Companies portal
	Fashion portal

External links[link]

• Fruit of the Loom underwear
• The Fruit of the Loom Guys Creator

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v t e Lingerie Upper torso Types of bras (History) Balconette brassiere • Bandeau • Cupless bra • Male bra • Nursing bra • Push-up bra • Sports bra • Training bra • Underwire bra Other Babydoll • Bustier • Camisole • Negligee • Torsolette Lower torso Bikini • Boyshorts • French knickers • Girdle • Girl boxers • Panties • Tanga • Tap pants • Thong (G-string) Full torso BodyBriefer • Corsage • Corset • Corselet • Nightshirt • Playsuit • Slip • Teddy Hosiery Garter • Knee highs • Pantyhose • Stocking Historical Basque • Bustle • Chemise • Crinoline • Farthingale • Hoop skirt • Liberty bodice • Pannier • Pantalettes • Petticoat • Pettipants • Waist cincher • Yếm Accessories Falsies • Lingerie tape Brands Aerie • Agent Provocateur • American Apparel • Andrés Sardá • Baby Phat • Bali • Berlei • Bruno Banani • Calvin Klein • Chantelle • DKNY • Formfit • Frederick's of Hollywood • Fruit of the Loom • Gerbe • Gilly Hicks • Hanes • HerRoom • Intimissimi • Intimo Lingerie • Jockey • Jolidon • La Senza • Maidenform • No Nonsense • Olga Intimates • Passport Panties • Peach John • Playtex • Pretty Polly • Trashy Lingerie • Triumph International • Ultimo • Underalls • Valisere • Van de Velde • Vassarette • Victoria's Secret • Wacoal • Warner's • Wolford • Wonderbra • XTG Extreme Game

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 is a historical look at the way in which Al-Qaeda came into being, the background for various terrorist attacks and how they were investigated, and the events that led to the September 11 attacks. The book was written by Lawrence Wright, and he received a Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for it.

The Looming Tower is largely focused on the people involved; what they were like, why they did what they did, and how they interacted. The book starts with Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian religious scholar who visited the United States in the late 1940s and returned to his home to become an anti-West Islamist and eventually a martyr for his beliefs. There is also a portrait of Ayman al-Zawahiri, from his childhood in Egypt to his participation in and later leadership of Egyptian Islamic Jihad to his merging of his organization with Al Qaeda.

Osama bin Laden is the person described the most, from his childhood in Saudi Arabia in a rich family, his participation in the jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, his role as a financier of terrorist groups, his stay in Sudan, his return to Afghanistan and his interactions with the Taliban. The 1998 United States embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya are described, as is the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000.

Lawrence Wright also describes in detail some of the Americans involved, in particular Richard A. Clarke, chief counter-terrorism adviser on the U.S. National Security Council, and John P. O'Neill, an Assistant Deputy Director of Investigation for the FBI who served as America's top bin Laden hunter until his retirement from the FBI in August 2001, after which he got a job as head of security at the World Trade Center, where he died in the 9/11 attacks.

The book also describes some of the problems with lack of cooperation between the FBI and the CIA and other American government organizations that prevented them from uncovering the 9/11 plot in time.

Because The Looming Tower is to a large extent focused on telling the story of the people involved it does not describe the 9/11 plot and its execution in much detail. It focuses more on the background and the conditions that produced the people who allegedly planned and staged the attack, and information about those who were combating terror against the USA.

About the title[link]

The words "the looming tower" appear in the Qur'an. According to Lawrence Wright, Osama bin Laden, at a wedding before the 9/11 attack, quoted a line from the fourth Sura of the Qur'an, repeating it three times: "Wherever you are, death will find you, even in the looming tower."^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Looming Tower on Open Library at the Internet Archive
• The Looming Tower Reviews at Metacritic
• AuthorViews video interview about The Looming Tower
• Lawrence Wright Interview: Conversations with History; Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley
• Lawrence Wright speaking at Princeton University on "Al Qaeda: Past, Present and Future". April 25, 2007

Matteo Martin "Matt" Battaglia (born September 25, 1965) is an American actor and former American football player.

Background and football[link]

Battaglia, one of four siblings, was born in Tallahassee, Florida and is of half Italian and half German/Dutch heritage.^[1]

When Battaglia was three years old, his family moved north from Tallahassee, Florida and he grew up in the towns of Tucker, Georgia and Lithonia, Georgia, two suburbs east of Atlanta. His family currently resides in Roswell, Georgia. As a high school athlete, Battaglia served as team captain for his school's wrestling and football teams. In wrestling he placed second in the AAU's Southeastern States Championship, qualifying him to compete in the National AAU Tournament. But a football scholarship led him to the University of Louisville, where he became an All-American and All-South middle linebacker, leading the nation in tackles both his junior and senior seasons with 153 and 166 tackles respectively, in only 11 games per year. Battaglia broke former All-Pro Otis Wilson's college tackling record. He was team captain his junior and senior year and was voted Most Valuable Player by his teammates and coaches. Battaglia went on to play in the National Football League with the Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles. Two years later, his career ended abruptly after a broken bone was discovered in his neck. He returned to school, graduating from the University of Louisville with a degree in business and an emphasis in finance. In September 2006, he was named to the All-time University of Louisville team, with such football greats as Johnny Unitas, Mark Clayton, Tom Jackson, Deion Branch, Joe Jacoby, Dwayne Woodruff and Frank Minnifield.

In 2006, Battaglia married Tina Frazier from Greenville, South Carolina. Their first child, Blaize Christian Battaglia was born in Los Angeles on May 11, 2008. Their second child, Paxton Rose Battaglia was born in Los Angeles on October 17, 2009.

Career[link]

Battaglia has had a successful career as an actor and producer in film and television, appearing in over 70 films, network pilots and television shows.

Battaglia served as Co-producer on the film Brothers, starring Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhaal. The film is a remake of the 2004 Danish film by Susanne Bier. The remake was directed by six-time Academy Award nominee Jim Sheridan, from a script written by David Benioff, and was released worldwide on December 4, 2009 by Lionsgate.

Battaglia was also a Co-executive producer on the 2009 horror film Kill Theory, directed by Chris Moore.

Battaglia formed Matt Battaglia Productions to produce feature films and television shows. His first acquisition was in 2008 for the life rights to "The Marlboro Marine", which is currently in development as a documentary. He continued with optioning some best selling books including the national bestseller "Bad Monkeys" by Matt Ruff and "Or I'll Dress You in Mourning" by Larry Collins and Dominque Lapierre. Mourning was adapted into a screenplay by screenwriters Brian Klugman & Lee Sternthal. In 2010, he closed a deal with Fox Television Studios to develop "Bad Monkeys" into a one hour drama. In 2011, he Executive Produced the television show "Last Shot with Judge Gunn", which he sold straight into syndication with 150 episodes in season one and closed a deal with Fox Television on another one hour drama entitled "Pyrates" which he partnered with Ridley Scott and Tony Scott and their Scott Free Productions to produce. In 2011, he also Executive Produced the documentary "Do As You Likey".

As a feature film actor, Battaglia has acted in the Marvel Comics Thor, Sony Pictures action thriller Half Past Dead with Steven Seagal, Morris Chestnut and rap artist JaRule. He replaced Jean-Claude Van Damme in the lead role of Luc Devereaux in the action movies Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms and Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business. He has also acted in Kiss of a Stranger, Pendulum and the direct-to-video film Raven.

On the television front, Battaglia is known for his recurring role as Drew Boyd in the North American version of the series Queer As Folk. Other notable guest appearances include an episode of NBC's hit sitcom Friends (playing the fireman boyfriend of Lisa Kudrow's character), two episodes on 24, two episodes of HBO's Big Love, and appearances in Shark, CSI: NY, Bones, Charmed, and CSI: Miami.

Battaglia currently serves on the board of advisors for the G.I. Film Festival, which honors the successes and sacrifices of US soldiers through the medium of film.

Philanthropy[link]

As a television producer and philanthropist, Battaglia co-founded with Tommy and Chris Thieneman "The Mint Jubilee" in 1995, an enormous charity event which in its first ten years raised over $4 million for cancer patients and has provided financial resources to scientists, cancer centers and hospitals committed to finding cures and controls for cancer. This non-profit organization was created by Battaglia in memory of his mother Nancy Van Cleve Battaglia, who died of cancer in 1993. The black tie gala takes place in Louisville, Kentucky the night before the Kentucky Derby. Battaglia helped to create, develop, grow and brand the organization into becoming one of the most prestigious charity events in the world, becoming a world class event attracting high profile celebrities, entertainers and dignitaries from around the globe. The Mint Jubilee has been televised worldwide in over 130 countries and over 200 million homes. Past celebrities have included Vince Vaughn, Jim Caviezel, Kid Rock, Kate Capshaw, Jessica Capshaw, Felicity Huffman, Shannon Elizabeth, Chloë Sevigny, Uncle Kracker, Leslie Bibb, Prince Albert of Monacco, Bob Costas, Evander Holyfield, Wendi Malick, poker champion Phil Helmouth and Thora Birch.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Matt Battaglia at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Website
• Matt Battaglia Productions
• Mint Jubilee Web Site
• G.I. Film Festival

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