Our History - The Beginning
https://www.bensilver.com/history.dlp
Mr. Ben
Silver was a maker of fine men’s overcoats when John F. Kennedy strode
coatless, despite the January 1960 chill, into the White House. The youthful
President’s televised indifference to outerwear plunged the men’s coat industry
into a steep decline, from which it never recovered, and Mr. Silver’s
prestigious nationwide network of wholesale accounts disappeared. Seeking
another way to utilize the skills of a lifetime, he began to manufacturer fine
traditional blazers, complemented by blazer buttons with the enameled insignia
of a number of universities.
The blazers
were an immediate success with the same fine men’s stores he had always served;
but ironically the blazer buttons became the predominant product. Nearly every
university, college prep, and prep school wanted them in their bookstores.
Haberdashers wanted them to augment their blazer sales. Ben Silver became known
as a purveyor of fine jewelry quality blazer buttons, producing the blazer
buttons for American Presidents as well as corporations and clubs.
Our History - Blazer Buttons
When Mr.
Ben Silver died in 1978, his daughter and son-in-law, Sue and Bob Prenner, left
their legal careers and took over the small company. This transition was made
less difficult because Mr. Silver, a man of great personal style and charm, had
been well respected by both his customers and suppliers for his integrity and
intelligence, and therefore every courtesy was extended to his family after his
death.
Bob &
Sue Prenner
Within two
years, the Prenners achieved a milestone in the esoteric world of button
making, when they were awarded a contract to produce 350,000 sets of Blazer
Buttons as commemorative gifts for the 1980 Ronald Regan Presidential Inaugural
Ball. The Prenners then moved the company from wholesale into direct retail
sales with their first mail order catalog, and soon afterward, into their
retail store location on historic King Street in Charleston, South Carolina.
Returning
to the focus of the founder on men’s apparel, Sue and Bob introduced a quality
blazer to serve as the backdrop for the jewelry blazer button. The traditional
customer they served longed for the classics that had become increasingly
difficult to find in the high-style 1980s, and the blazer became an immediate
success. What was needed to complete the traditional look was traditional
striped neckwear, which Bob himself had long sought to no avail. In 1984,
however, on a buying trip to England, Sue and Bob noted the availability of
authentic English striped neckties. It was then that the Prenners developed
relationships with the English silk mills, and became makers of pure silk
authentic British striped and created hand sewn neckwear. With the introduction
of regimental neckwear to America, word spread and the demand for their
classically styled product grew. In time, they added fine shirtings to the
product mix, as their apparel collection began to broaden to include fine shoes
and leather goods and eyewear.
Store Location
149 King
Street
Charleston,
SC 29401
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Map
Store Hours
Due to
Covid-19 we are now open by appointment only; until further notice.
To
schedule, please call:
(843)
577-4556 Ext: 604
Monday -
Friday from 9am - 6pm
Saturday
from 10am - 6pm
Contact
Phone:
843-577-4556
Toll Free:
1-800-221-4671
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