Bills Khakis
www.billskhakis.com

The Story of Bills Khakis.
As fascinated as we are with the future, our hearts lie in the past. Old movies, books and vintage photographs are places we go to connect.
I found a connection in a pair of original World War II khakis I found at an Army surplus store while I was in college. They were the most wonderfully simple product I had ever experienced. They were full, deep pocketed, and put together to withstand a war. Today’s khakis paled in comparison. “We could put a man on the moon, but couldn’t make khakis like we did 50 years ago,” I thought. Someone had to save this small but symbolic piece of Americana.
The idea of starting a company that captured and celebrated America’s heritage and ideals took on such great philosophical importance that I quit my advertising job in Chicago and moved home to Reading, Pennsylvania to start Bills Khakis in 1990.
With a few thousand dollars and a dozen or so part time jobs (including greens keeping, covered bridge painting, ski lift operator, sporting goods salesman, freelance writer, and rock & roll band promoter), the business slowly grew from a “trunk of the car” start-up to a full time enterprise by 1994.
Today, thanks to the hard work of 27 employees, and many others, Bills Khakis are available in a variety of seasonal fabrics and colors and sold throughout the United States at over 500 high-end men’s specialty stores and select Nordstroms. The company still chooses to produce in the United States.
Bills Khakis makes its home in downtown Reading, Pennsylvania in a renovated warehouse building that was once home to the Reading Hardware Company and now appears on the national historic register. Bills Khakis chooses to locate here to serve as a local example that a 21st century business can still compete in a city that was built on a 20th century economy. Bills Khakis has been named to Inc. Magazine’s Inner City 100 five times, as one of America’s 100 fastest growing inner city businesses.
In a small way, the mere existence of Bills Khakis has been a minor business miracle. The brand has managed to build a cult following in a market category so large, it would reject the notion of a business that strives to sell and service one pair of khakis at a time.