Chicago firm to dress Obama on big day

CHICAGO, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration day wardrobe will be supplied by the Chicago company Hartmarx.

Obama is already a customer of the company, known for the Hickey Freeman, and Hart Schaffner and Marx lines of menswear. The president-elect plans to take the oath of office in a Hart Schaffner and Marx suit and topcoat and to dance at his inaugural ball in one of the company's tuxedos, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The black tuxedos made at a plant in Des Plaines, Ill., by union labor retail for $895.

"We are thrilled at the opportunity to create a wardrobe for someone as dynamic as President-elect Obama and to participate, in however small way, in our nation's civic activities," said Brett Schenck, president of Hart Schaffner and Marx. "Equally positive is that we are being embraced as an American, union-made manufacturer that prides itself on quality, value and fit."

Obama already owns six Hart Schaffner and Marx suits from the Gold Trumpeter collection, which retail for about $1,500.