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Title
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Interview with Elmer Price and Lou Lesky
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Description
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Interview with Lou Lesky and Elmer Price about their experiences in the Kansas City garment industry. Lesky recalls his work at Kansas City Custom Garment Company, a men's clothing maker which switched to military uniform manufacturing during World War II, and uniforms for bus drivers, bakers, and other occupations post-war. Price discusses his white goods businesses in downtown Kansas City and later near 39th and Main. The men recall the Garment District of the past, noting other companies and individuals from the area, and talk about how much it has changed. They discuss the operations of their businesses and the decline of the textile and clothing industry in the United States.
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Date
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2007-07-01
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Object Type
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Audio Recording
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Title
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Interview with Margie Bercu and Barbara Bloch
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Description
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Interview with Margie Bercu and her daughter Barbara Bloch about their family's history with Kansas City's garment district, and discuss what garment design and manufacturing still exist in Kansas City at the time of the interview. Barbara discusses her father Archie's start at Maurice Coat & Suit Company and later transition to Lan-Mar Sporting Goods, which manufactured little league baseball uniforms, basketball uniforms and other athletic apparel. Lan-Mar later spun off a company called Cotton Duck which manufactured restaurant uniforms and related apparel. The women also discuss Archie's education and military service, Barbara's continuing work with retail and restaurant uniforms through the 1980s, oursourcing of manufacturing, and remaining American textile manufacturing. The women also note several local companies continuing to work in garment production into the 2000s.
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Date
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2005-08-23
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Object Type
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Video Recording
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Title
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Interview with Michael Lerner
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Description
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Interview with Michael Lerner about the Kansas City garment industry and his family's company, King Louie. He recounts his father Morris and uncles founding the Lerner Cap Company, later changing the name to Lerner Brothers Manufacturing and going into production of military clothing at the start of World War II. After the war they shifted to sportswear, and later, to bowling shirts under the name King Louie, as his uncle Victor Lerner was a professional bowler. He discusses how the company grew to encompass bowling alleys and other businesses, shifting to overseas manufacturing and imports, and eventually buying back the brand from a venture capital firm in 2006 and re-establishing the business as an American-made, union labor firm that manufactures uniforms and promotional garments.
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Date
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2011-03-07
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Object Type
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Video Recording
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Title
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Interview with Skip and Leo Feingold
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Description
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Interview with Leo and Skipper Feingold about their lives and their experience in Kansas City's garment industry. The couple discuss Leo's military service, meeting through a friend while he was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, and mention Skipper's early career tapdancing as part of the Luke Sisters. They also discuss their children's clothing business, Stevie Togs, Skipper's work as a teacher, and Leo's work for Stern-Slegman-Prins and Kap-Pel Fabrics.
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Object Type
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Video Recording
