Over the past week devoted readers have left comments suggesting that something was going on at Southwick. I can now confirm the disheartening news.

In November, shortly before leaving New York, I met with a Southwick representative. Oddly enough, it was in the new cafe Brooks Brothers opened on the first floor of its Madison Avenue flagship. The source was excited about the company’s plans to rebuild Southwick as a stand-alone trad brand. But yesterday the source confirmed that things have done an about-face. Brooks Brothers has not only nixed the Southwick brand expansion, it has halted all third-party production for Southwick as a domestic manufacturer — and one of the last — of tailored menswear. To the best of my knowledge, the factory will now be used only for the small amount of Brooks Brothers clothing not made overseas.

Currently the Southwick website is still active, and includes the following history on its Heritage page. — CC