If you’re familiar with Madewell, a J. Crew-owned womenswear company that sells high-quality, timeless jeans, sweaters, button downs and more, you might be aware that the brand claims its origins lie in New Bedford, Mass. In fact, at the original Madewell store in New York City, shoppers can read up on the brand’s history, dating back to 1937 in Massachusetts. Madewell’s social media accounts also use the handle @madewell1937.

But in a recent article on BuzzFeed News titled ‘How Madewell Bought and Sold My Family’s History,’ the great-grandson of the man who started the Madewell clothing company in New Bedford, Mass. tells the story of how his family’s brand was born and then disappeared in the 20th century, before J.Crew resurrected it in 2004 and transformed the company’s name, logo and history into a women’s clothier. Other than the logo and name, however, the Madewell we know today is not a New England brand.

The article follows Dan Nosowitz on his journey to discovering more about his great-grandfather’s business, and how the brand got to be where it is today. While the story explores how a company’s faux-history for the sake of “authenticity” is a reflection on how brands today need a background in order to appeal to a finicky marketplace, what’s most interesting, perhaps, is that the original Madewell, which specialized in sturdy, workman’s clothing for the port town of New Bedford, showed no signs of the dedication to quality and originality that the current Madewell proudly boasts.

The article itself is worth a read, if not merely to debunk the current myth that the current Madewell brand originated in New Bedford, but to also take a second to think about how brands market themselves to the modern consumer.

Screengrab via Madewell