National Cloak & Suit was founded about 1888. About 1910 a reorganization brought about National Bellas Hess, into which Charles Williams stores were merged in late 1929. Bellas Hess survived until the late 1970s. At one time National Bellas Hess was one of the top five mail order companies in the country. In the 1960s it was mailing out over 25 million catalogues per year.

Bellas Hess was known for quality, a quick browse in the following catalogs will show they were more expensive than many of their competitors in the same time period.