TEXTILES: Undercover Artists

Like the model T Ford and the Sears, Roebuck catalogue, B.V.D.s are part of U.S. folklore. Not many citizens know that the initials stand for "Bradley, Voorhees and Day," but everyone knows they stand for men's underwear. Last week the famous trademark took the biggest step in its 75-year history. The $47 million-a-year B.V.D. Industries, Inc., which operates seven knitting mills and factories in the U.S., Canada and South Africa, sold the trademark and its retail sales force to New York's Onyx-Superior Mills, Inc.

Last week's sale marks the first change in...

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