Sue Mills founded Mills Uniform in 1947 in San Francisco, California. With a background in textiles and clothing design, she knew she could offer better quality products and service than any other uniform provider on the market at the time. Sue’s experience as a parent of four children in private school had also given her a thorough understanding of the unique needs of students and families shopping for school uniforms. Starting with a small store on Sacramento Street in the Pacific Heights neighborhood, Mills Uniform soon grew into manufacturing and creating uniform programs for all the premier private schools in San Francisco. Mills eventually expanded throughout California and into other states, creating strong areas of service in Texas, Georgia and Tennessee. With three generations of company operation by Mills women and a deep commitment to serving schools and families, Mills was well known for providing consistent, quality products to its schools and students for 75 years. In 2022 DENNIS acquired Mills and brought on more than 40 key Mills staff members with over 300 years combined school uniform experience to our united team. Our mutual outlooks on business and our common commitment to a high level of service for our school communities led us into the successful partnership we have today.
Mills president Suzette Foley, granddaughter of Sue Mills, remains an important figure as a DENNIS board member and a key leader of the transition and integration of Mills into DENNIS Uniform. Suzette spent her early years immersed in the business – just a month after she was born, her mother returned to work with Suzette in tow, converting a nearby office into a nursery where she could sleep and play. After an education at Berkeley, Suzette officially joined the Mills team, holding every position available until she took over as president and CEO when her mother and aunt both retired in 1998. DENNIS is pleased to maintain a strong link to the entrepreneurial history of a fellow leading company that has helped expand and shape our shared industry.
With more than 100 years in business, we know the importance of partnership and recognize that DENNIS has benefited greatly from the experience and expertise of our colleagues. We’ve always been in the business of long-term relationships, and that’s an outlook we’ve adopted into all aspects of our operations. We could not be more proud of our partners’ accomplishments and are happy that we have been able to continue to engage with the thriving communities they’ve created. Our enthusiasm for working alongside and learning from our business partners has allowed us to become what we are today – true uniform experts™!