The Western Reserve Historical Society recently published A Stitch in Time: The Cleveland Garment Industry. The book, available in our Museum Store and authored by Dr. Sean Martin, the Society’s Associate Curator for Jewish History, weaves together the story of the region’s garment industry in the 19th and 20th centuries. We recently spoke to Sean about this economic engine and its ties to the Jewish community.
What drew you to the garment industry?
I became interested through Marc Frisch. His family founded Frisch Knitting Mills, a local firm. He contacted me and let me know that he had worked with a predecessor of mine to gather materials for a possible publication or exhibit. He hoped to move one of those projects forward.
Hence A Stitch in Time. How would you describe the focus of the book?
It’s an overview of the garment industry in Cleveland. As I mentioned, Marc’s family had Frisch Knitting Mills. Another connection, Gary Rand, is from the family behind Ohio Knitting Mills. Although there was quite a bit there between those two, they both generously said from the beginning it shouldn’t just cover the mills. They both wanted it to incorporate the larger garment industry here in Northeast Ohio.
Pardon my ignorance, but when you say knitting mills are you referencing companies that put out sweaters?
Yes. There are different segments of the industry. Two major distinctions are knitting mills and “cut and sew.” Cut and sew is pretty much most of what we think of when we think of clothing manufacturers. The knitting mills focused on things that were made of yarn. What we’re talking about in Stitch in Time is ready-to-wear clothing. No one wears custom-made clothing much anymore, but in the 1820s and 1830s that was all there was. Now we’re all basically sporting clothes that don’t really fit; it is made for the masses and can’t be tailored for each individual.
Are knitting mills still around?
Yes and no. Really, compared to before, there are few garment manufacturers of any kind in the U.S. There are some traces of the industry still in Cleveland. Euclid Vidaro in Kent makes highly specialized clothing for clean room environments; they started out making overalls in 1870. And a former distribution plant for Joseph & Feiss was acquired by Hugo Boss to make high end suits. Hugo Boss recently sold its operation on Tiedeman Road to a company that makes suits for the Hart Schaffner Marx label.
Which knitting mill published their patterns pretty recently?
That was Steve Tatar, a local artist. He worked with Gary Rand and sold some of the stock of sweaters that remained after operations ceased at Ohio Knitting Mills in 2014. He also wanted to preserve the knitwear styles and techniques. He worked with an author to put out a book. It includes a little history of Ohio Knitting Mills, but it is mainly a pattern book created expressly for people interested in recreating those designs today.
How important was Cleveland in the overall industry and how long did it hold that influence?
The industry here was most active from the 1840s to the 1990s. Cleveland was a regional center for the industry. Cities like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Rochester, Baltimore, Chicago and eventually Los Angeles were more important to the industry overall, but it is true that from 1900s to the 1960s Cleveland ranked highly for a few of the sectors like, say, women’s clothing or men’s suits.
The bigger firms sold merchandise everywhere. It was the proverbial traveling salesman idea with trunks on a train early on in the 1860s and 1870s. Later on they had offices in New York City and elsewhere. They took their lines to fashion shows and sold product throughout the country and abroad.
What were some of the big names people might remember?
Of the prominent firms that started in the 19th century there were two big ones in men’s wear: Joseph & Feiss and Richman Brothers. In women’s wear, Prince-Biederman was probably the biggest name in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Work Wear was another big one. They really became an international player. Founded by Samuel Rosenthal in 1915 as the Cleveland Overall Company, they made uniforms. It was an innovative company that expanded into other aspects of the industry, establishing Buckeye Garment Rental in 1921. They went into the industrial laundry business later, taking things from beginning to end. Work Wear made uniforms for companies like Coca-Cola, Hertz, Avis and many different airlines. Their uniforms were designed by Oleg Cassini and Halston. We have a series of great advertisements in our collection that they actually shot right here in the History Center.
While not as large, others were still important to Cleveland history like John Anisfield Apparel Company. His name lives on through the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards that was established by his daughter. This is a good example of the philanthropy that came out of the industry. Charles Eisenman was part of Kastriner and Eisenman, a children’s clothing manufacturer that eventually became known as Kaynee. The Jewish Federation of Cleveland has a Charles Eisenman Award established in his honor. Then there’s L.N. Gross in women’s wear. You can still make out their name on top of a building on West 3rd. In the post-war era the big names included Bobbie Brooks who made clothes for junior women. Dalton was known for women’s wear and cashmere sweaters.
Was the industry decline here representative of what happened everywhere, or did it start in Cleveland earlier than other cities?
It mirrored the overall decline. The main reason everyone cites for the downward trend was imports from abroad. That’s true. But it’s also a truism of the industry that it always chases cheap labor. The United States was a place for cheap labor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries so the industry had a foothold here that lasted for several decades. Individual firms went out of business for all different reasons. Some went out because there was no one who wanted to carry on the family business. Some were not run by particularly good businessmen. Some didn’t want to deal with unions. Some didn’t keep up with fashion. But whatever the reason, just because a company went out of business didn’t mean it wasn’t successful. Most did what they were supposed to do for the predominantly Jewish families who founded them. They helped immigrants get established here.
Tell me places in Cleveland that still remind us this once great industry.
Joseph & Feiss on West 53rd is still there. It’s a ruin. It’s the “Read More Books” building if you’ve ever noticed that on the side of it while driving by. I think the lettering is visible when you’re driving west on I-90. And Richman Brothers on East 55th is there. It’s a hulk of a building. The huge parking area is still in the back. There’s a wonderful illustration of the neighborhood in the book. It makes you realize this thriving factory once stood in a peaceful, bucolic setting. Now it’s a decaying factory structure in the inner city. And then there’s the Federal Knitting Mills building on Detroit and 28th that has been turned into lofts. The Bradley Building on 6th and Lakeside also has been given another life.
Why was the Jewish community so closely tied to the garment industry overall?
The garment industry tends to develop as an ethnic niche. As immigrants arrived here, it was fairly easy for them to get into the garment industry. There were relatively low barriers to entry. Once they were in, they reached back and brought over family members and friends from the places they were from in Europe. The industry became big enough that its workforce was more widely representative of the people that came to Northeast Ohio: Italian, Czech, Polish, Slovak, Slovenian and so on.
The garment industry was pretty central to the success of the Jewish community in the United States, generally speaking. Of the nine founding members of what became the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, four of them were in the garment industry, which is fairly significant. It wasn’t the only key though. There were also some very big advances made in banking, real estate and other areas.
I recently stopped in to Stern Advertising and saw some of the old Bobbie Brooks ads on the walls. Did the success of the industry help other businesses—like advertising agencies—start and grow here too? The garment industry absolutely encompassed more than just those people making the garments. There were people making the thread and the buttons and doing the embroidery and putting together the packaging. And, of course, there was a need for advertising and retail. They also provided jobs for fashion illustrators.
What was the hardest part about researching the book?
The scarcity of sources. While the Western Reserve Historical Society had photos and several collections related to garment industry firms, when it came down to it was only a handful of companies compared to the 300 – 400 firms that actually made garments here. Not all of them were big, but you still think there would be more material.
You have a lot of beautiful photography in your book. Did most of that come from the archives?
Most of it did. A few were from Cleveland State University’s Cleveland Memory Project. There are a few other images of the factories that still remain and have been repurposed that were taken by people involved with the project.
What was one of the biggest things you learned in the course of your project?
Well, it’s a pretty basic thing but I was definitely struck by how hard it is to actually make a garment and how different the process is depending on the piece. A man’s dress shirt differs from a man’s casual shirt which differs from a women’s blouse. We all want to wear clothes that are different colors and different styles. We all want something new all the time. Even men’s fashion, which is much slower to trend then women’s, changes pretty quickly. Garment manufacturers have to completely change what they do all the time. That can mean new designs, new machines and even new workers.
Who should read this book?
There is a lot of interest in the industry from the general community here in Cleveland. There were many family firms and many of these families are still in town. Also, there are many people whose parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles were employed by the industry. That’s thousands of people with connections to this part of local Cleveland history.
The History Center is mounting an exhibit too, right?
Yes, it opens to the public on November 6 and will be up through the spring of 2016. The exhibit covers the industry in the 19th and 20th centuries. It’s a good companion piece to the book.
If someone has an artifact or garment, what should they do?
Contact me. We’re still interested in adding to the Western Reserve Historical Society’s collection. We would be interested in hearing about photos, documentation or even garments. I would love to get some cutting shears they used to cut the fabric.
—Sam Fryberger, Director of Marketing & Communications
