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Title: Interview with Mel Mallin
Description: Interview with Mel Mallin about his experience with the Kansas City garment industry. He discusses his start in New York, his work with Maurice Coat Company in Kansas City in the 1950s, and his later purchase of the All Packaging Company box business and the Manhattan Sponging Works in the late 1960s, a fabric processing company. He shares stories about changing size labels on clothing to flatter customers, the majority Jewish ownership of local garment companies, and recounts other local garment manufacturers and designers, their specialties, and their owners and operations. He also discusses the later conversion of the Garment District buildings into offices and apartments, including including his own 1983 conversion of his box and packaging plant into the first residential loft building in Kansas City.
Date: 2004-10-19
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Harvey Fried
Description: Interview with Harvey Fried about his life and about the Kansas City garment industry. Fried describes the early start of the local garment industry in the West Bottoms, with the buildings in the downtown Garment District built between approximately 1898-1915, and notes Kansas City's position as a rail hub in the center of the country as being key to manufacturing and distribution. He also recounts his parents' backgrounds, his father opening the Fried-Siegel Company in 1930 and Style Line Manufacturing Company in 1939, and the companies' role producing a wide assortment of apparel. He discusses the work of garment manufacturing and distribution in detail, the predominance of Jewish ownership in the industry, and the evolution of the Fried-Siegal and Style Line into smaller firms alongside the shrinking of the local and national garment industries. He also discusses the evolution of the Garment District neighborhood to the present and shares photographs.
Date: 2004-12-22
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Bill Kaiser
Description: Interview with Bill Kaiser about his life and his company, the Bill Kaiser Company, which was a supplier to the Midwestern garment industry. He discusses his family's business importing sewing machine parts in New York, and starting his company in Kansas City after moving from New York in 1971 supplying local manufacturers with sewing machines and parts, pressing equipment, and other supplies. He notes that by 1971 manufacturing had largely moved out of the city into smaller regional towns, and says that he believes a resistance to new, faster technology and automation was a factor in the decline of the local industry. He also discusses the assembly line process of clothing manufacturing and the variety of machines and other equipment required for production, and the American garment industry's shift to overseas manufacturing.
Date: 2010-11-30
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Sally Schwenk
Description: Interview with historic preservationist Sally Schwenk about the importance, and difficulty, of preserving and sharing the history of Kansas City's garment industry. She discusses the importance of Kansas City's location as a railroad hub to its early industry, the boom in the industry following World War I, the impact of unionization, and changes in the location and design of facilities, and the later decline of the local industry. She also describes the Garment District surrounding 8th and Broadway, the loss of buildings and connectivity to other neighborhoods due to post-war freeway construction and demolition, and the challenges of running the Historic Garment District Museum.
Date: 2010-04-26
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Betty Brand
Description: Interview with Betty Brand about her family's history in and her experience with the Kansas City garment industry. Betty was married to Arthur Brand, whose family started the Brand and Puritz factory in 1928, and describes the family's experience in the garment business, the different suit and coat lines they manufactured, and the large number of immigrants among their staff. She also describes their experience in Kansas City's Jewish community, the retail and restaurant landscape of downtown Kansas City, and shares her paintings and photographs of her family and travels.
Date: 2010-11-15
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Mary Lou Chalmers
Description: Interview with Mary Lou Chalmers about her experience working in Kansas City's garment industry from the late 1950s through late 1970s.. She discusses enrolling in the fashion design program at Kansas City Art Institute, as well as taking courses at Fanny Fern Fitzwater School of Fashion Illustration and the Isabelle Boldin School of Fashion, and then working in design and pattern-making at area garment companies such as Nelly Don and Gay Gibson. She describes the process of designing and making clothing, her experiences at numerous companies, the perks of working at Nelly Don, and times that her designs were featured in national magazines. She also discusses the decline of the garment fashion industry in the 1970s, the homogenization of shopping, and the shift to manufacturing in Asia.
Date: 2010-05-07
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Eugene Salvay
Description: Interview with Eugene Salvay about his life and his family's experience with the Kansas City garment industry, with additional information provided by his nephew, Craig Salvay. He discusses his childhood in the 1920s, and his education in aircraft engineering which lead to job in World War II working on B-25s at the assembly plant in the Fairfax District in spite of antisemitism in the hiring process. He recalls his father's work as designer at Fashionbilt before moving on to mail-order company National Bellas Hess, and operating his own business designing custom coats. He also shares stories about his family roots in Lithuania, his Jewish identity and ancestry, and meeting Harry Truman in the 1930s. Salvay also mentions his participation in developing Israeli aviation and his relationship with Moshe Arens.
Date: 2011-06-04
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Ann Brownfield
Description: Interview with Ann Brownfield about her experience as a designer Kansas City and other Midwestern cities. She recalls her start designing shoes in St. Louis, later teaching pattern-making in Grand Island, Nebraska, and working in sportswear, coat, and suit design at Brand and Puritz after moving to Kansas City in 1960. She describes opening her own factory in Kansas City, Kansas, designing and sewing small collections for a variety of clients, including making warm-up suits for the 1972 US Olympic ski team; and her later closure due to the decline of skilled sewing machine operators. She also discusses the decline of the local industry, manufacturing moving overseas, and later working in retail, giving tours of the old garment district, and beginning to collect clothing and other items from local manufacturers.
Date: 2005-11-14
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Carl Puritz
Description: Interview with Carl Puritz about his family's company, Brand and Puritz. He discusses Hyman and Joe Brand and Harry Puritz founding the company in 1928, making women's coats and suits, manufacturing uniforms as part of the war effort in World War II, and recalls other family members who passed through the company. He also discusses the decline of the domestic apparel business in the face of Asian imports, the multiple clothing lines manufactured by the company, and their time making uniforms for TWA. Carl notes that he is the last surviving member of the Brand and Puritz families who worked for the company, and they show and discuss original garments made by the company and held at the Historic Garment District Museum.
Date: 2005-08-22
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Bob and Bruce Gershon
Description: Interview with Bruce and Bob Gershon about the history of their family company, Arrowhead Fabricare Services. They discuss the building's construction at the corner of 39th and Troost, salvaging furs and leather goods from Plaza stores after the 1977 flood, their garment company clients, a venture into hat-making, and share stories about their lives, families, and the dry-cleaning business.
Date: 2009-10-24
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Cy and Esther Rudnick
Description: Interview with Cy and Esther Rudnick about their lives and their store, Cy Rudnick's Fabrics. Cy recalls coming to Kansas City to manage Kaplan's Fabrics and later operating his own store in Crown Center from 1976 to 2006. They discuss fabric buying, custom clothing, and notable customers, and sewing becoming a creative outlet rather than a necessary task. They also discuss the prevalence of Jewish families in the fabric business and their disinterest in shifting their business online.
Date: 2010-09-28
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Marshall Gordon
Description: Interview with Marshall Gordon about his family's experience in the Kansas City garment industry. His father, Hyman Gordon, operated the Frances Gee Company, manufacturing inexpensive housedresses during the Depression and World War II, later shifting to manufacturing uniforms. Marshall discusses working at the family business from 1960 to 1972, and returning after his father passed away in the early 1990s. He discusses their shift to manufacturing in Puerto Rico and Japan, the decline of the company, their relationship with the garment workers' union, as well as their real estate holdings and development work.
Date: 2005-08-04
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Rose Stolowy
Description: Interview with Rose Stolowy about her life and her family's experience in the Kansas City garment industry. She recounts her husband Saul's immigration to the United States from Poland, his background in tailoring and design, and his work for and later ownership of Kansas City Custom Garment Company. She notes famous clients including Harry Truman, Nelson Rockefeller, and Kansas City Police chief and FBI director Clarence Kelley, and recalls starting her own fabric business, Midtown Fabric Shop, at 39th and Troost. She also recounts meeting and marrying Saul, and says that he helped Truman enter the haberdashery business.
Date: 2005-02-03
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Sherman Dreiseszun
Description: Interview with Sherman Dreiseszun about his life, his work in the Kansas City garment industry, and other ventures. He was the first of his family born in the United States after his parents and siblings migrated to Kansas City from the Polish-Russian border and later served as gunner in the Army Air Corps in World War II. He later owned the Vic-Gene Manufacturing Company with his nephew Frank Morgan, which he described as manufacturing knock-offs of popular garments including Pendleton jackets and corduroy "slick shirts." He and Morgan later opened Metcalf South Shopping Center in Overland Park,
Date: 2004-10-05
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Nancy Hipsh
Description: Interview with Nancy Hipsh about her family's history in the Kansas City garment industry. She discusses her grandfather Harry Hipsh's start in the cap making business before moving on to manufacturing neckties at several factories in northwestern Missouri. Her father, Charles Hipsh, worked for the business and later established Empire State Bank in 1963. She also shares photographs and miscellany from Hipsh Manufacturing and Textile Distributors, Inc., and shares stories about her father's political involvement, her upbringing, and other family members.
Date: 2005-05-25
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Eileen Garry
Description: Interview with Eileen Garry about her life and her experience in the Kansas City garment industry. She discusses her marriage to Marshall Garry, their move from Brooklyn to Kansas City, and Marshall's work for his father's B. Garry and Company. She discusses their work representing suppliers such as the Maimin Company, a producer of cutting machines, and textile manufacturers, the evolution of the company and industry into the 1960s, the couple's involvement in the local Jewish community, and the industry's social milieu.
Date: 2011-02-03
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Linda Lighton
Description: Interview with Linda Lighton about the history of the Woolf Brothers clothing stores, which he father worked at and later owned. She discusses the company's origins in the late 1800s, selling men's clothing and haberdashery at 1020 Walnut, and its expansion over the decades to locations at the Plaza, area malls, and regional cities, as well as expanding to sell women's clothing. She also discusses the life of Herbert Woolf, the Kansas City Jewish community, and says that she heard Herbert Woolf "discovered" actress Jean Harlow. She connects the decline of the business to the 1977 flood that damaged the Plaza store and her father Alfred being shot in a mugging, as well as the ascendance of clothing and department store chains in the 1980s.
Date: 2011-05-13
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Ralph and Ben Zarr
Description: Interview with brothers Ralph and Ben Zarr about their lives and experience working in Kansas City's garment industry. They recount their father's and uncles' backgrounds in the garment business, their father's founding of the Quality Hill Dress Company, which made two-piece dresses for size flexibility, their start in the business as traveling salesmen, and the company's practice of adapting best-selling designs by other companies from previous seasons into two-piece dresses. They also discuss changes in fashion, overseas manufacturing, and labor union demands as factors in the decline of their business and the local industry, and share memories of seeing one of their dresses in a movie, having a racially diverse group of employees, future business dealings, and downtown businesses of the era.
Date: 2005-01-26
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Hal Hardin
Description: Interview with Hal Hardin about his history working in Kansas City's garment industry. He discusses the origin of the Donnelly Garment Company, his experience serving in the Mediterranean during World War II, his early life and work, and his start with the Donnelly company in 1952. He describes his beginning in advertising and his later work in sales, ultimately becoming their national sales manager. He also discusses his work with stores across the country; their plants in North Kansas City, St. Joseph, and Nevada, Missouri; their clothing lines and sales territories; and staying with the company until it shut down in 1978. He then opened a new manufacturing company which he operated until selling in 1990.
Date: 2005-02-14
Object Type: Video Recording

Title: Interview with Eddie Jacobs
Description: Interview with Eddie Jacobs about his life and experience in the Kansas City garment industry. He recalls his family history, including his parents' immigrations from Poland and Russia, and starting out in the garment industry with his father and brother manufacturing children's clothes. He discusses their later transition into maternity wear, selling to department stores and mail order businesses, and also notes he opened fabric stores with his mother-in-law. He also discusses their relationship with the garment workers union, describes their staff and their small-town manufacturing, and notes that they once made up about 20% of the maternity wear market before closing in the 1980s. He shares photographs and notes maternity wear design elements.
Date: 2005-01-06
Object Type: Video Recording

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