Ruff and Ready

Captivated by the story of Barclay Ruffin Hewn, adventurer and fashion designer par excellence, the salesman at the Rodeo Drive specialty shop gushed, "What a wonderful man he must be."

Quite right. You meet a lot of extraordinary people in Beverly Hills but none like old Ruff Hewn. After all, he designed the original Boy Scout uniform and outfitted Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders, plus introduced the Brits to navy-blue blazers and button-down collars. And at the age of 102, he is still chipper enough to produce a line of classic utilitarian clothes under his own label.

Fantasy has its place in fashion. But had it relaxed its grip on the clerk's imagination, he might have blanched at the knowledge that Ruff Hewn was not to the manor born but the brainchild of a merchandising consultant -- the man he was talking to -- in an effort to keep North Carolina factory workers busy.

Imaginary or not, the results have been real enough. The Ruff Hewn line is sold in 3,000 specialty stores, including Houston-based Abercrombie & Fitch, Jerry Magnin of Beverly Hills and Louis of Boston. Since the first Ruff Hewn garment was stitched in 1981, sales have grown an average of 275 percent a year.

The High Point-based company expects to produce 1.5 million garments this year, up from 10,000 its first year. Employment has leaped from 46 to 175 in the past year. Its corporate offices, warehouse and distribution center will move from 26,000 square feet to 90,000 square feet this year. From the men's line that launched the company, Ruff Hewn has expanded into women's fashions, called Pretty Ruff. Ruff Neck ties and two children's lines -- Little Ruff for boys and Pretty Little Ruff for girls -- will be added.

The success has catapulted beyond the original expectations of brothers Jefferson H. and Warren J. Rives Jr., who started the company as a sideline to their other businesses, W&J Rives in High Point and Rives Casuals in Troutdale, Va., which sew jeans and casual pants for companies such as Levi Strauss, Lee and Polo. Ruff Hewn was born to smooth seasonal peaks and valleys in the contract businesses, but its sales now surpass that of the other two companies combined.

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