Match cover for Fields Twenty-two Fifty
Due to the risk of inflation (deflation, too), including a price in the name of your store may not be advised. Some may recall the Mister Fifteen Hamburgers in Brainerd which was eventually faced with rising prices. Similarly, there is a long historical list of retailers that had “five and dime” in their names. In the late 1920’s, a national men’s clothing chain opened stores under the name “Fields Twenty-two Fifty.”
Reference material for Fields is scant, so you are encouraged to send an e-mail to jolleyh@bellsouth.net if you have additional facts. I will alter this history to include those details. Here is what is known.
Fields Twenty-two Fifty, Inc. opened in Chattanooga at 900 Market Street on October 10, 1928. The store later relocated to 608 Market Street. Fields had full-page advertisements in the Chattanooga News and Chattanooga Times to announce their opening and to introduce their pricing of $22.50. Double-breasted suits with pleated pants were promoted as being the look for 1928.
As an introductory offer, Fields offered a $2.50 gold piece to everyone who purchased a suit, overcoat, topcoat, or tuxedo during the grand opening. At the time, the government issued $2.50 gold (1/4 eagles). As of August, 2016, high grade coins sell for around $1,000. Lower grade are essentially the bullion value of gold about $270.
The clothing chain was incorporated in Pennsylvania on January 1, 1927. At the time of their opening in Chattanooga, there were stores in forty-six cities. Mottos were “The World is Our Field,” “The Man Who Knows Wears Fields Clothes,” and “Twenty-two Fifty. No More. No Less.” The stores proclaimed that they bought clothing directly from manufacturers in order to hit the price target of $22.50.
In the 1930’s, Ira Trivers began an association with Fields which would continue through 1965, the last year that Fields was listed in the Chattanooga city directory. Ira Trivers was also a retailer under his own name for many years, operated stores in downtown, Brainerd, and Hixson, and was a leader in the Chattanooga community.
The Fields corporation was dissolved on September 10, 1959. Individual stores may have continued under the name, as in the case of Chattanooga.
Check back for any further updates on Fields and their economical line of clothing.
Feedback from Readers
From Tom Trivers - My grandfather and his brother were the founders of Trivers Clothes back in the 1910’s. My grandfather, Ted Trivers, and his brother Nathan, owned a clothing factory in New York City which manufactured men’s clothing. They distributed the clothing they manufactured through several retail stores which they also owned throughout the country. At one time, they were the 2nd largest men’s clothing retailer. My father, Ira Trivers, operated stores here in Chattanooga beginning in 1942 when he moved here to relieve the manager of Fields Clothes who had been called into the Army. I joined my dad in our business when I got out of the Navy in 1964 when he opened Ira Trivers in Eastgate. I worked with him until he passed away in 1989. I closed the Trivers business in 1992. I have some notes of my grandfather’s and some calendars which were given away at the store openings which indicate that a Trivers store in Chattanooga opened in 1920. I remember a Fields store operating in the 800 block of Market Street. I used to help make boxes when I was a child in the late 40’s. Fields Clothes moved to 606 Market Street when Kress’s opened a store in the 800 block. Our Fields store closed in 1967 around a year after we opened an Ira Trivers store at 811 Market Street downtown in 1966. We opened the Eastgate Ira Trivers store in 1964. By the way, the store at 900 Market was a Trivers Clothing store. The name was in the stone in front of the building at one time.
Fields advertisement mentioned the $2.50 gold piece offered with a $22.50 purchase.