Kalamazoo Pant Company

From Overalls to the 'Kazoo Pant'

As Kalamazoo’s manufacturing economy began to surge into high gear after the U.S. Civil War, one apparel merchant strove to corner the market on menswear. Founded in 1867 by Samuel Rosenbaum, the Kalamazoo Pant and Overall Company’s past success remains visible today through the presence of several notable downtown buildings that once housed the longtime family business. Over its long history, the successful clothing manufacturer and retailer evolved from producing rugged overalls to selling 20th century casual slacks for both adults and teenagers. The Rosenbaum family was part of the large wave of German/Jewish-born merchants who established their commercial enterprises along Kalamazoo’s Main Street in the late 1800s, creating what was then considered the German-District.

Samuel Rosenbaum (1838-1903)

Born to Caroline and Sussman Rosenbaum in the Bad Pyrmont (i.e. Germany) in 1838, the 1860 Federal Census lists Samuel’s birthplace as Waldeck, a city in the state of Hesse. Rosenbaum first landed in Three Rivers, Michigan, around 1857, where he spent several years there running a dry goods business, before leaving for the more commercially active Kalamazoo. Samuel’s brother Simon had also immigrated to Kalamazoo a year before. Samuel married Henrietta Cohn, another German-born immigrant in 1863. The couple went on to have six children (Louis, Edwin, Caroline, Goddie, Menz, and Blanche).

Once in the bustling village of Kalamazoo, Samuel began his business activities by clerking for Mannes Israel, a successful merchant whose store was located on the southeast corner of Rose and W. Main streets. After working for Israel and saving enough money, Rosenbaum set up his own concern called “Wholesale Notions” on North Burdick Street in 1867, selling “barrowed” dry goods. But by the mid-1870s, Rosenbaum switched to the manufacturing of denim overalls after realizing the potential of the apparel market. Of all of the products Rosenbaum carted around in his barrel and wagon to various parts of southwest Michigan looking for customers, the one that struck him as one of the most coveted, were the rugged, shoulder strapped pants. Rosenbaum, as a nod to his wife’s name, established the Henrietta Skirt Company, but ultimately, his focus would largely be on the making and selling of menswear. There was also a family connection to the apparel trade that may have influenced his thinking. Samuel’s father Sussman “had been a fabric producer–Germany’s king of velveteen and sateen.”

“He (Samuel) bought some sewing machines, hired a few skilled women, and began to manufacture denim overalls. The new factory was in leased space, right behind his wholesale quarters. The quality and modest prices of his overalls soon forged a market extending beyond his wholesaling area. And by the mid-1880s his business was manufacturing, entirely. Sam. Rosenbaum, Wholesale Notions, became the Kalamazoo Overall Co.”

At Your Service, 100 Years of Quality…Kalamazoo Pant Co.

Rosenbaum soon added casual pants to his product line, thus changing the firm’s name to Kalamazoo Pant and Overall Company. During the late 1800s, Samuel’s four sons (Edwin, Menz, Goddie, Louis) joined the firm, and subsequently explored pushing the firm into larger markets and different product lines. In the fall of 1890, Rosenbaum approached local builder William A. Doyle to construct a building for Rosenbaum’s apparel enterprise. The handsome, four-story, late Victorian building at 229 E. Michigan Avenue mixed architectural flourishes from both the Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles. Rosenbaum’s store occupied the first and second floors.

Samuel passed away in 1903 from cancer of the throat and stomach. Before his death, he made one final decision to form a corporation, changing the name to Sam Rosenbaum & Sons Co. He was buried in the Jewish portion of Mountain Home Cemetery. Another name change occurred shortly after Rosenbaum’s death, when executives chose to rename the business Kalamazoo Pant Co., choosing to focus on the brand and product rather than the family name. Two years after Samuel’s death, the six-story building that stands on the corner of E. Michigan Avenue and S. Edwards was built with the family surname carved into the façade. The Rosenbaum Building stands to the west of the Henderson-Ames Building. In later years, the pants supplier operated out of both addresses.

Despite their patriarch’s death, the four sons continued to drive the business forward, finding continued success and growth throughout the 20th century.

“The sons were expansion-minded. Louis, the one with department store experience, initiated a subsidiary to make ladies’ skirts, and all of the boys did a lot of aggressive farafield outside selling. It was typical of, but much less coordinated than, the way our company’s present day executives all devote much of our time to selling. Often two, and occasionally all three–Louis, Goddie, and Edwin–would have thriving individual accounts in the very same city.”

At Your Service, 100 Years of Quality…Kalamazoo Pant Co.

By the 1910s and 1920s, KPC was widely known for their line of Westchester slacks and ‘Plus Four’ golf knickers. The company was the first to employ airplanes to transport their pants in 1927. A South Bend, Indiana-based retailer had sold out of KPC’s popular corduroy trousers (Varsity Cords). So with the use of an adventurous pilot, pants were shipped by airplane from Kalamazoo to one of the football team’s practice fields on Notre Dame’s campus. Expanding into markets beyond Kalamazoo, the company opened over twenty stores, beginning in the late 1920s. Another popular product line was KPC’s Hip-Zip knickers, designed for the stylish boy. Debuting in 1931, these shortened pants were uniquely equipped with a metal fastener along the side-seams, making the getting on and removal process easier for the child. These metal talons were the first iteration of the common zipper. The company owes much of their success to their youth-oriented clothing, including the Kazoo Pant and the David Copperfield line.

Redwood & Ross

A year after their centennial, the Kalamazoo Pant Company was dissolved in 1968, but shortly thereafter reformed as a “wholly-owned subsidiary of Phillips-Van Heusen.” Two years later in 1970, Kalamazoo Pant Company, Inc. changed its name to Redwood & Ross Central Corp., a division that had been established in 1953 to target the Midwestern college campus consumer. The 1970s and 1980s were not kind to many longtime businesses operating in downtown Kalamazoo. A weak national and local economy coupled with the emergence of enclosed malls in Portage and Oshtemo led to declining sales. By 1994, after years of struggling to remain competitive in downtown Kalamazoo, Gilmore’s Department Store purchased Redwood & Ross and their 15 stores. By 1999, the longtime pant seller had left the Rosenbaum Building location, and moved into 143 S. Kalamazoo Mall, surviving for only a few more years before closing for good.

Article written by Ryan Gage, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, April 2025