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Jews and the Fashion Industry
"As early as 1885," notes Joel Kotkin, "... Jews, mostly from Germany,
owned 97% of all the garment factories. By the early twentieth century
Jewish domination of the 'rag trade' [in America] was virtually complete,
with Jews accounting for between 50 and 80 per cent of all haymakers,
furriers, seamstresses, and tailors in the country." [KOTKIN, p. 48-49]
By 1915 the "clothing trade" was America's third largest industry, behind
only steel and oil. [LEACH, p. 93] "Jews largely created the American
clothing production industry, replacing homemade clothes and tailor-made
clothing." [SILBIGER, S., 2000, p. 46]
"Jews," says Milton Plesur, "were the chief source of operatives for the
ready-made clothing industry, but by the 1920s, they constituted less
than half of the operatives and by mid-century less than 28 percent. In
the meantime, Jews have risen to management and ownership, thus achieving
almost exclusive control of the entire wearing apparel industry." [PLESUR,
M., 1982, p. 161] The modern bra, for instance, was a Jewish marketing
invention, promoted by the Maiden Form Brassiere company owned by William
and Ida Rosenthal with Enid Bissett, founded in 1923. Likewise, the suits
of "Hattie Carnegie [born Herietta Kanengeiser] led a fashion empire that
set the pace of American fashion for nearly three decades." [HYMAN, p.
207]
In more recent history, Jews have congregated in, and dominated, the "fashion"
aspects of the clothing industry -- founding everything from Guess, Gitano,
Jordache, Calvin Klein, and Levi-Strauss jeans to Ralph [Lifshitz] Lauren
cosmetics. (The Jordache and Guess companies -- both founded by recent
Jewish immigrants to the United States -- were involved in particularly
nasty lawsuits and underhand unscrupulous maneuvers against each other.
The companies' manipulations are documented in a 1992 volume entitled:
Glamour, Greed, and Dirty Tricks in the Fashion Industry: The Bizarre
Story of Guess v. Jordache. In 1985, one of the brothers who owns Jordache,
Joe Nakash, was elected in Israel to be the president of the Boys' Town
Jerusalem Society. "This is the message I want to convey to those who
care about Israel's future," Nakash said, "That in addition to providing
its students with a superb education, Boys' Town builds and develops their
character, their conviction and their commitment to their homeland." [JEWISH
WEEK, 5-3-85, p. 22]
At Levis-Strauss, in 1982 Robert Haas "became the fifth generation family
member to run the company (his father, Walter A. Haas Jr. was CEO from
1958 to 1976." [MUNK, p. 36] Warren Hirsch, president of Murjani International
initiated the blue jean craze in recent years with the designer label
"Gloria Vanderbilt." Alfred Slaner headed Kayser-Roth into the 1980s,
"the largest clothing manufacturing establishment in the world." [GREENBERG,
M., p. 73]
French-born Maurice Bidermann (born Maurice Zylberberg) "was the mastermind
of one of the largest [clothes] manufacturing networks in the world, with
thirteen thousand workers in thirty-four factories. Producer of Pierre
Cardin and Yves Saint Laurent suits, his plants in France, the United
States and Hong Kong churned out nearly $200 million in designer duds
each year ... He was the older brother of Regine, the jet-set nightclub
owner of New Jimmy's and Regine's, in Paris and New York." [GAINES/CHURCHER,
p. 196] The president of Bidermann's companies in the U.S.? Also Jewish.
Michael Zelnick.
"Of all the monarchs in the garment industry," note Steven Gaines and
Sharon Churcher, "... Carl Rosen [of Puritan Fashions; Chief Financial
Officer: Sam Rubenstein] was the biggest and richest ... Rosen owned two
Rolls-Royces, both painted gold, and the one he kept at his Palm Springs
estate once belonged to the queen mother of England ... Reportedly ...
Carl supplied hookers and dirty weekends to Las Vegas for the buyers."
[GAINES/CHURCHER, p. 216]
"The [Dan] Millstein name [of coats and suits] had become familiar to
every American household ... [Seymour] Fox was in a league of his own
in the fashion business, a mogul even wealthier than Millstein. Fox was
known not only for his exquisite, high-priced fashions but for his grand
lifestyle, replete with stretch limousines and a beautiful mistress, the
Women's Wear Daily columnist Carol Bjorkman." [GAINES/CHURCHER, p. 49,
56]
In the 1960s and 1970s, Hartmarx "became the largest manufacturer and
retailer of men's tailored clothing." The company, originally called Hart,
Schaffner and Marx, was founded in the late 1800s by Harry and Marcus
Marx. Relative Joseph Schaffner joined as a co-partner later. [SONNENFELD,
J., 1988, p. 167] In Canada, Steven Shein owns E&J Manufacturing Ltd.,
"one of Canada's largest wool coat makers." [KUITENBROWER, P., 4-1-2000,
p. D1] Sigi Rabinowicz, an Orthodox Jew, is the CEO of Israel-based Tefron,
"a major force in lingerie." [MCLEAN, B., 9-18-2000, p. 60] "Israel Myers
-- son of a tailor -- originated the London Fog raincost." [KRISCHNER,
S., 9-14-00, p. 11]
In 1995 another Jewish garment mogul, Calvin Klein, who had a serious
problem with cocaine and Quaaludes over the years [GAINES/CHURCHER, p.
208], was condemned by a range of parent and social welfare groups for
an advertising campaign featuring images by Jewish photographer Stephen
Meisel. Adolescent models, notes Henry Giroux, were photographed "in various
stages of undress, poised to offer both sexual pleasures and the fantasy
of sexual availability ... Angry critics ... called the images suggestive
and exploitive, and condemned Calvin Klein for using children as sexual
commodities. Other critics likened the ads to child pornography." [GIROUX,
p. 16-17] This was an old theme for Klein. Earlier suggestive commercials
with and adolescent Brooke Shields had garnered condemnation from a variety
of groups, including a feminist group called Women Against Pornography.
(Klein's key partner in his initial years was fellow Jewish entrepreneur
Barry Schwartz. Another Jewish friend, described as Klein's "mentor,"
was Nicholas de Gunzburg, the "fur and fabric editor" of Vogue magazine).
[GAINES/CHURCHER, p. 97-98]
The Guess company (founded by the Jewish Marciano brothers, who share
control of the firm with the Nakash family, who are also Jewish) has also
followed the same advertising strategy to sell jeans. "Media Watch," noted
the Los Angeles Times in 1990, "a feminist group in Santa Cruz, has called
for a boycott of Guess, charging that its ads demean women, integrating
sex with violence." [SCHACTER, J., 1990, p. D1]
Elsewhere, Estelle Sommers founded the Capezio dancewear brand, Ann Klein
[originally Hannah Golofski] has become a widely recognized "designer"
brand, as has Donna Karan and her DKNY label. Isaac Mizrahi and Tommy
Hilfiger are other famous Jewish fashion brands, as is that of the Iranian-Jewish
mogul of perfume and self-promotion, Bijan (Pakzad), also known as the
"designer of what's probably the world's most expensive menswear." [DORFMAN]
Rudi Gernreich and John Weitz are other Jews who have been prominent fashion
designers. Designer Arnold Scassi's last name is Isaacs (his original
surname) spelled backwards. Kenneth Cole (originally: Kenneth Cohen) developed
popular lines of shoes, belts, and leather jackets. Judith Lieber manufacturers
luxury handbags.
Liz Claiborne founded her company with her Jewish husband Arthur Ortenberg
and Leonard Boxer. She retired in 1989 whereupon Jerome Chazen became
chairman of the firm. Other prominent executives in the company are Harvey
Falk and Jay Margolis. In 1988, Nicholas Coleridge listed the American
"power buyers" (those who buy for stores) of the fashion world. Most of
the people listed are Jewish, and a huge percentage of the stores are
Jewish-owned:
"Daria Retain, fashion director of Neiman Marcus; Ellin Saltzman, director
of fashion and product development at Saks Fifth Avenue; James Fowler
and Mary Talbot, vice-president and design buyer of Jacobsons Stores,
Michigan; Kaye von Bergen, designer buyer of Bendel's; Lois Ziegler and
Sue Bicksler, fashion directors of J.C. Penney; Bernie Ozer, vice-president
of the Associated Merchandising Corporation; Barbara Weiser of Charivari;
Barbara Warner, formerly of Barneys, who virtually single-handedly turned
the store into an upbeat designer terminus; Lynne Manulis, president of
Marthas; Joan Weinstein, president of Ultimo; James Sullivan, fashion
director of Jordan Marsh; Missy Lomonaco, fashion director of Bonwit Teller;
Betty Hahn, designer buyer of Garfinkels, Washington; Jean Navin, vice-president
and fashion director of Lord & Taylor; Kal Ruttenstein, vice-president
and fashion director of Bloomingdales; Terry Melville, fashion director
of Macy's; and Sal Ruggerio of Marshall Field, Chicago." [COLERIDGE, p.
259]
In 2000, the National Post noted the heart of the garment district in
Montreal, Canada -- the Jewish center of Chabenel Street. The article
addressed the bribery of store buyers by clothing makers and its long
tradition in the Jewish community. (In Yiddish: "Az men shmert nit, fort
men nit." -- If you don't bribe, you don't ride). Kickbacks, noted Doug
Robinson, a Canadian fraud squad officer is "a dirty secret of the industry."
[KUITENBROWER, P., 4-1-2000, p. D1]
Elsewhere, Israeli-born Elia "Tahari is among the most respected names
in department and specialty stores." [HOOD, p. 1E] In California Severin
Wunderman's company, the Severin Group ($500 million a year in sales),
remains "the sole manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of Gucci timepieces
and Fila sports watches." These products' retail cost run between $225
and $14,000 apiece. "The word 'demanding' is repeatedly used to describe
[Severin]. In addition to shouting and breaking things, he has tossed
more than one cellular phone out the window of his chauffeur-driven Rolls
Royce." [HOWLETT, p. E1]
The head of the French luxury jewelry firm, Cartier, is also Jewish: Alain
Dominique Perrin. In 1996, during a visit to Israel, he announced "plans
to donate an unspecified percentage of the revenue from the sale of $10
million worth of jewelry to WIZO [the World International Zionist Organization]."
[CASHMAN, 1996, p. 14] Kenneth Jay Lane, "the fake jewelry king," [HORYN,
C., 12-12-99, sec. 9, p. 1] is also Jewish. Nudie Cohen, head of Nudie's,
was the "costume designer who pasted Nashville in rhinestones in the 1940s
and '50s." [LONGINO, M., 9-8-2000] He supplied the Hollywood/Las Vegas
cowboy image to people like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. Others fitting
such stars were "Nathan Turk and his East coast counterpart Rodeo Ben
(Bernard Lichtenstein), both Eastern European immigrants" whose "clothes
brought western wear into its heyday." [MOORE, B., 2001, p. E3] Adrian's
was the logo of Adrian Goldberg, a famous dress designer for Hollywood
in the 1930s and '40s. Sidney Toledano is today's president and CEO of
Christian Dior.
The Chanel company, which makes "the most expensive perfume in the world,"
was founded by non-Jew Co Co Chanel, but built to power by the Jewish
Wertheimer brothers. As the London Independent notes: "In 1924 [Chanel]
sold 90 per cent of the rights to Chanel No. 5 to Pierre Wertheimer, who,
with his brother Paul, owned Bourjois, the largest cosmetics company in
France ... They bought out Chanel -- couture house, perfume and all --
in 1954." [JOBEY, L., 11-27-90, p. 12] Feeling that "she was being cheated"
by the Wertheimers, Chanel had sued them in 1934. [MOUBRAY, J., 2-10-98,
p. 18]
Elsewhere in France, in 1995 Jean-Pierre Meyer became Deputy Chairman
of the L'Oreal cosmetics giant, suceeding Andre Bettencourt (whose father
founded the firm). Meyer, who is Jewish, is married to Bettencourt's daughter.
[ http://www.klarsfeld.org/press/95/us_urged/us_urged.htm ]
Diane von Furstenberg (original name: Diane Simone Michelle Halfin) founded
a "fragrance and fashion empire." Stanley Kohlenberg, head of Revlon's
domestic Group III, was "recognized as one of the premiere marketing men
in the fragrance industry." [GAINES/CHURCH, p. 182] Samuel Rubin founded
the Faberge perfume company. Max Factor built a cosmetics empire, including
waterproof mascara and long-lasting lipstick. Helena Rubenstein sold "beauty
and royalty." "The names [of Jewish entrepreneurs] Helena Rubenstein and
Estee Lauder [born Josephine Esther Menzer] became virtual synonyms for
cosmetics in the twentieth century." [HYMAN, p. 27] Adrien Arpel opened
500 skin care salons across America. "A legend in the cosmetics industry....
although Arpel is not a formally observant woman, she is very conscious
of her Jewish identity." [HYMAN, p. 67-68] Vidal Sassoon built an business
empire based on hair care. (Sassoon, funder of a research unit on anti-Semitism
at an Israeli university, was the recipient of the first American Jewish
Congress "Beauty Hall of Fame" award). Non-Jew Grace Mirabella, for 17
years the editor of Vogue magazine, notes that "all the models, actresses,
and photographers of London" hung out a Sassoon's hair studios. [MOIRABELLA,
G., 1995, p. 127]
Jack Rosen is chairman of the Hazel Bishop cosmetics company (as well
as being the CEO and chairman of Continental Health Affiliates and the
CEO of Infu-Tech, two major health care corporations). [PR NEWSWIRE, 3-13-98]
Shirley Polykoff at Clairol introduced to America her advertising catchphrases:
"'Does she or doesn't she?,' 'If I have only one life to lead, let me
live it as a blonde,' and 'Hate that gray, wash it away.'" [BAER, p. 158]
The Gottleib family founded the Gottex swimmear line. Marvin Winkler (philanthropist
of an Orthodox Chabad "Immigrant Camp" in Hollywood) and Jay Schottenstein
bought the Gotcha surf wear company in 1996 (also including the MCD and
GirlStar brands. Adam Tihany is one of America's best known upscale "restaurant
designers," his work includes Manhattan's Le Cirque 2000. Maurice Stein
owns Burbank, "one of the world's largest suppliers of cosmetics, skin,
and hair products to the entertainment industry." [WILGOREN, p. A1] Israeli-born
Gil Gamlieli is co-owner of "Manhattan's celebrated Gil Gamlieli Beauty
Group." [EPSTEIN, M., p. T6] Even a Satmar hasidic Jew, Victor Jacobs,
is CEO and Chairman of Allou Health and Beauty Care.
Chicago's Irving Harris became a millionaire with his ToniHome Permanent.
Mr. Blackwell -- creator of the world's "worst" and "best" dressed lists,
is a Jewish fashion designer who changed his name from Richard Selzer
to Dick Ellis to, lastly, Blackwell. Britain's Trevor Spero founded the
Flame model agency and Scene magazine, which covers the fashion industry.
New York's Fashion Institute of Technology "grew from the dream of a small
group of successful Eastern European Jewish immigrant manufacturers ...
[who ultimately created] a thriving college of art and design, business
and technology. [NEWSDAY, p. A39] FIT's chairman of the board was still
in Jewish hands in 1998, in the person of Edwin Goodman. "By the late
1930s," notes Henry Feingold, "Jews could be also found in the creative
departments of the full-service advertising agencies as the experts in
marketing surveys, motivation research, and the psychology of consumption."
[FEINGOLD, p. 104]
Brett Goldberg sells Dead Sea mud as a skin lotion. His business (Ahava's
hand cream) took off when he met and married Eve Berenblum, head of Sak's
cosmetics department. The American-born Goldberg has dual American-Israeli
citizenship and volunteered for the Israeli army. [BERMAN/SANDERS, 1-11-99]
Sydell Miller and her husband Arnold started Matrix Essential, a hair
care and skin products company.
Sidney Kimmel heads the Jones Apparel Group; its clothing lines include
Jones New York, Evan-Picone, Saville, NineWest shoe stores, and movie
production interests. The CEO of the Jo Ann Stores chain (1065 stores
nationwide; also sometimes called Cloth World and Jo Ann Fabrics) is Alan
Rosskamm. Co-founded by his father, the firm's 1997 sales alone were $975
million.
Bob Sockolow is the president and CEO of San-Francisco based Rochester
Big and Tall Clothing. The founders of the Banana Republic clothing retail
chain were Bill Rosenszweig, and Mel and Patricia Ziegler. The Eddie Bauer
outdoor clothing empire is headed of course by Eddie Bauer; he is also
Jewish. Jeffrey Swartz is the president and CEO of the Timberland shoe
and boot firm.
In 1997 The Limited Inc. (Leslie Wexner, CEO) was accused by the AFL-CIO
of subcontracting garment work in the Dominican Republic that paid workers
$21 for an 80-hour work week. The Limited's 3,000 outlets and brands include
Abercrombie and Fitch, Structure, Express, Lane Bryant, Henri Bendel,
Bath & Body Works, and Victoria's Secret, among others. [FORWARD, 5-30-97,
p. 1] (Abercrombie and Fitch's 2001 summer catalogue attracted a coalition
of groups as diverse as the National Organization for Women and Concerned
Christian Americans in protest. The catalogue was condemned as "soft porn."
An earlier A&F catalogue -- Naughty or Nice -- was "denounced" by the
Michigan attorney general's office.") [CRARY, D., 6-22-01]
In 1986, Linda Wachner, also Jewish, president of Max Factor, U.S. Division,
maneuvered a hostile takeover of the Warnaco Group, effectively seizing
control of much of the women's underwear market (including the brand names
Warners, Olga, Valentino, Scaagi, Ungaro, Bob Mackie, and Fruit of the
Loom). Wachner was henceforth the CEO of Wanaco, "one of the highest paid
and most powerful businesswomen in America in the 1990s." [HYMAN, p. 27]
Elsewhere, Howard Gross is the CEO of Miller's Outpost's chain of 220
stores; Robert Siegel became the CEO of the Stride Rite store chain in
1993. Donald Fisher is founder and CEO of the giant clothes retailer The
Gap. He too is Jewish, [ALTMAN-OHR, A., 4-14-2000, p. 64A] as is Millard
Drexler, another top executive at the company.
-----------------
This section from this chapter of WHEN VICTIMS
RULE. A CRITIQUE OF JEWISH PRE-EMINENCE IN AMERICA.
Ralph
Lauren's America — and Ours How the Child of Immigrants Sold WASP Couture,
and Culture, to the Masses,
[Jewish] Forward, February 14, 2003
"Quick! Think 'Ralph Lauren.' What springs to mind? Polo matches?
Smiling, fresh-faced beauties? An aura of old money privilege that's part
Hamptons, part cowboy, part English gentility vacationing on a safari?
Congratulations: You've successfully bought into the image that the designer
— né Ralphie Lifshitz, a Bronx-bred yeshiva boy — created for himself
and the world. Exactly how a nice Jewish boy became the creator of a nouveau
elite American style is explored in two recent books, Colin McDowell's
laudatory, life-in-pictures 'Ralph Lauren: The Man, The Vision, The Style'
(Rizzoli) and Michael Gross's catty, chatty tome, 'Genuine Authentic:
The Real Life of Ralph Lauren' (Harper Collins). Both purport to tell
the story of the man behind the billion-dollar empire — who has been called
a visionary, a tyrant and a self-hating Jew. What emerges — in McDowell's
book implicitly, in Gross's book explicitly — is an act of self-reinvention
and cultural camouflage to rival not only 'The Great Gatsby' (to whom
Lauren is often compared), but the great Jewish moguls who created
the white-picket fence, ultra-WASPy mythology of the golden age of Hollywood
... While some critics have charged Gross with padding the biography
with too many anecdotes of American Jewish history — a New York Times
review accuses Gross of 'courting anti-Semitism' — Gross
said, 'I think it's the defining story in Ralph Lauren's life.'
Through exhaustive — and exhausting — research into the designer's genealogy,
Gross uncovers that Lauren is related to a host of prominent Jews, including
Karl Marx, Moses Mendelssohn, Helena Rubenstein and
'the founders of several Hasidic dynasties' ... [Joseph] Epstein
notes that Jews — and homosexuals — are often arbiters of American style.
'I think our status antennae are very sharp, sensitive,' he said. 'As
a people who are not entirely comfortable in America, I think we can sense
what counts as status.'"
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