What's in a name? Everything, if you're White Swan.

For 100 years, the White Swan name has been synonymous with quality, both in the products they sell and people they employ. A major force in the medical and food service industries, White Swan is well known for using innovative and reliable fabrics in its comprehensive line of apparel, and doing so from a value perspective.

Now, the venerable company is in the midst of a rebranding, changing its name and rolling out new sub-brands to build upon its reputation and to better position itself in the ever competitive healthcare apparel marketplace.

Come summer, White Swan will officially be known as White Swan Brands, a subtle but important distinction that its marketing VP says better reflects who the company is these days. "We're really a collection of brands, some our own and some licensed," Jim Decker notes. Falling under the White Swan umbrella are Meta, Fundamentals, and Five Star Chef Apparel, and licensed brands include Jockey Scrubs and Crocs.

In business since 1916, White Swan was originally known for high quality, fashionable white nurses' uniforms. Decades later, it merged with another long-standing name in the business, lab coat supplier Meta. "There's a lot of brand tradition, and we didn't want to lose our history by making any drastic changes to our name," Decker explains. "Not everyone lasts l00 years."