Algo Group Inc

Founded in 1942 as a small dress manufacturer, Algo Group Inc. has grown to become Canada’s leading apparel company. The company’s 16 divisions have a presence in four segments of the apparel industry: ladieswear, children’s wear, sportswear, and textiles. Algo’s product lines are oriented towards the mid-market consumer and are made up of such well-known licenses as Bugle Boy, Ocean Pacific, and Hank Player as well as the company’s own brands, including S.O.S., Badge, Green Jeans, and Robin. The company’s textile division, operating under the banner of the Hamil Group, is a leading international textile converter that caters to a broad client base including moderate to designer sportswear, activewear, weekend wear, children’s wear, and lingerie. Operated out of divisional centers in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Osaka, and Seoul, Algo derives about 40 percent of its C$200 million in sales from outside of Canada.Company shares trade publicly on the Toronto Stock Exchange, under the symbol AO.A.Company Origins in the 1940sAlgo Group Inc. was founded in 1942 by two brothers, Joseph and Ben Schaffer, whose family had emigrated from Poland to Montreal, Canada, in the 1930s when the brothers were children. By the 1940s Montreal had become the center of a burgeoning Canadian fashion industry and, searching for a business venture, the young Schaffer brothers rented a small office on Peel Street in downtown Montreal and began to manufacture ladies’ dresses designed to sell for under C$10. The Schaffer brothers’ business prospered, and soon they were able to move the company’s headquarters to Chabanel Street in the heart of Montreal’s famous garment district.