It has been written that A.G. Spalding bought out both A.J. Reach and Wright and Ditson in the 1890's. A.J Reach stayed intact and from what I have read enjoyed a healthy competition with Spalding. Spalding had a Canadian factory in Montreal at the turn of the century in addition to plants throughput the U.S. and London, England. A.J. Reach was in the process of expanding and building a factory in Brantford, Ont. Canada in 1913 when Spalding decided to also open a plant in Brantford in direct competition. That area was well situated for commerce and was known for the vitality of its mills and factories on the banks of the Grand River. Both business co-existed for a number of years when in 1927, Spalding was named as a successor to A.J. Reach in Canada and took over the Reach plant. Spalding was eventually tempted to move their operation to Toronto in 1955 but the unions persuaded him to stay in Brantford. This information is from the Brantford Expositor, The local newspaper at the time.
Here is a photo circa 1916 of the A.J. Reach plant in Brantford (upper right)
The stylish three finger Reach glove recently sold on ebay piqued my curiosity about the Canadian models.
The Canadian strap finger glove and full web below are not easily found in a U.S. Reach catalog
the cloth patches on the Canadian models seemed to be gold on dark blue instead of gold on black. They also include the Wright & Ditson name.
Although the A.J. Reach brand ceased in 1927, the Reach, Wright & Ditson company was formed and continued in its place. This sampling of pages from a 1941 Reach, Wright & Ditson Canadian catalog shows the very limited number of endorsed models available and model numbers that don't relate to a U.S. catalog. In fact, this Canadian catalog bears no resemblance to the 1941 Reach catalog in Joe's Catalog source Book. it is interesting reading however.
