Fruit of the Loom is an American company that manufactures clothing, particularly casual wear and underwear. The company's world headquarters is in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Since 2002 it has been a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. Products manufactured by Fruit of the Loom itself and through its subsidiaries include clothing (t-shirts, hoodies, jackets, sweatpants, shorts and lingerie), and sports equipment (softballs and basketballs) manufactured and commercialized by Spalding. Company profile Fruit of the Loom is one of the largest manufacturers and marketers of underwear, printable T-shirts and fleece for the activewear industry, casualwear, women's jeanswear, and childrenswear. The company employs more than 32,400 people worldwide. The company's logo comprising a red apple, leaves, green grapes, purple grapes, and white currants (or yellow gooseberries) forms a widely recognizable trademark. The company is a vertically integrated manufacturer. In 2006, Fruit of the Loom acquired Russell Brands, LLC, a global company whose brands included Russell Athletic, Brooks Running, and Spalding, among other names in athletic wear. The purchase amount was $600 million. History Rhode Island beginnings The origin of the Fruit of the Loom company dates back to 1851 in Rhode Island, when textile mill owner Robert Knight and his brother Benjamin established the "B.B. and R. Knight Corporation" after they acquired the Pontiac Mill in Warwick, Rhode Island. In 1856, the company changed its name to "Fruit of the Loom", while producing its first muslins. A friend of Robert Knight named Rufus Skeel owned a small shop in Providence that sold cloth from Knight's mill. Skeel's daughter painted images of apples and applied them to the bolts of cloth. The ones with the apple emblems proved most popular. Knight thought the labels would be the perfect symbol for his trade name, Fruit of the Loom – an expression referring to clothes, paralleling the phrase "fruit of the womb" meaning "children that come from the woman's uterus", which can be traced back to the Bible (Psalm 127:3). In 1871, just one year after the first trademark laws were passed by Congress, Knight received trademark number 418 for the brand "Fruit of the Loom". Much of its athletic outerwear was sold under the "Pro Player" label, a now defunct division. 20th century The company was part of Northwest Industries, Inc., until NWI was purchased by William F. Farley in 1985 and renamed Farley Industries, Inc. Farley served as president, CEO, and majority shareholder for 15