As a 100+ year-old company, we’ve weathered a lot of change. A century of growth, development and evolution has led us to a place of confidence in the uniform industry as the top provider nationwide. A company is not always a singular entity, however, and much of our continued success has come from the business partnerships we’ve made along the path to today – acquiring notable industry leaders AA Uniforms, Larose School Uniforms, Mills Uniforms and Top Marks.
Each of these companies brought great experience and industry knowledge onto the DENNIS team by focusing on what we too have always held true: strong values and a commitment to serving our community of schools, parents and students.
Multiple generations of family ownership gave these former competitors immeasurable value to DENNIS. Unlike traditional acquisitions, we have maintained close links to the important human elements of our partnered companies, bringing all staff members on board to the DENNIS team and honoring their longstanding school business relationships with care.
We’ve always been in the business of long-term relationships, and that’s also an outlook we adopt to the way we operate internally. We’re happy to represent a truly people-centered company structure.
We’ve found through experience that we can support our school partners best with an extended company family full of happy team members.
A Quick Timeline
1920
We got our start manufacturing nursing uniforms and professional wear in Portland, serving the local working community.
1940s
Shifting our focus to serve the war effort during WWII, we supplied linens and apparel to military personnel shipping out of the Port of Portland.
1950s
After the war, we created our first line of school uniforms, including our very first plaid, and opened our first retail store in 1951.
1980s
We continue growing and opening new DENNIS retail locations across the country.
2007
We partnered with Larose School Uniforms, (founded 1978) – bringing Ivonne Larose, second-generation company leader, on board as DENNIS’ VP of New Business Development.
2018
AA Uniforms (founded 1956) joined DENNIS, bringing Barbara Blanck, second-generation company leader, on board as DENNIS’ VP of Sales.
2022
We partnered with two notable uniform companies: Mills Uniform (founded 1947) and Top Marks (founded 1986). Suzette Foley-Mills (third-generation company leader) joined the DENNIS board.
With the addition of Top Marks to the DENNIS universe, we entered the Canadian market, bringing Howard Vineberg, Jeremy Carson and Jennifer Vineburg (second-generation company leaders) to our team.
We are the uniform experts not just because of our long history and experience, but because of our enthusiasm for working alongside and learning from our partner companies. Together we truly are stronger than ever.