Chosen Capital: The Jewish Encounter with American Capitalism

Chapter 2. The Evolution of the Jewish Garment Industry, 1840-1940

 ��� c h a p t e r 2 2 The Evolution of the Jewish Garment Industry, 1840–1940 Phyllis Dillon and Andrew Godley The apparel industry in the United States has provided a home for Jewish businesspeople and workers for more than one hundred and fifty years. Indeed, one cannot fully understand this industry or its place in the U.S. economy over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries without addressing the central role played by Jews as American entrepreneurs and apparel capitalists.1 German Jewish immigrants played a major role in the expansion and growth of the men’s suit industry in the United States between  and . They moved into it in large numbers once it was already established as big business by non-Jewish clothiers and merchant tailors, who were the first to industrialize the clothing industry. But by  the industry was primarily Jewish owned. The ethnic characteristic of the industry was transformed during the s and s, as a far greater share of the much larger east European Jewish immigrant population moved into the clothing industry. The purpose of the chapter is therefore to provide an overview of the Jewish involvement in the U.S. clothing industry from the very earliest years, rather than, as the existing literature is guilty of, focusing on one particular period or group of Jewish immigrants. The explanatory framework is broadly economic , although the study is explicitly internationally comparative to provide a superior contextualization of Jewish immigrant entrepreneurial strategies. Our hope is that the chapter provides a clearer explanation for why the clothing industry provided such a significant occupational home for so many of the German and east European Jewish immigrants to the United States over such a long period. The persistent themes are that Jewish entrepreneurs were well  phyllis dillon and andr ew godley suited to enter the clothing industry on arrival and that domestic demand for U.S. manufactured clothing was for most of the period expanding sufficiently quickly as to allow for Jewish entrepreneurs and workers to accumulate capital and savings. But the industry itself changed dramatically over the period, meaning that the ethnic entrepreneurial strategies had to adapt. The First Period of Industrialized Clothing Production: – Pioneering non-Jewish manufacturers were the first clothing capitalists, and they established the basic parameters of the business in the East Coast cities of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston by the s.2 Increased urbanization and industrialization in the antebellum period stimulated the manufacturing of ready-made apparel. As the new country expanded geographically through the western frontier and demographically through immigration, the garment industry grew in response to the increased demand for men’s business dress for new managers and clerks. The black business suit became the mark of American gentility and was adopted by all classes as standard business wear. New York City’s small, midsize, and large manufactories became the leading producers of high-quality ready-mades between  and ; moreover, New York emerged as the main center for shipping clothing and other products to the South and West, areas with little local manufacturing capacity of their own. Half of the garments and ready-to-wear clothing produced in New York City was shipped south.3 The first major transformation in the production of clothing in the United States began in the s, as Michael Zakim describes, when the industrialization of tailoring took place and the rise of clothiers was set in motion.4 Initially , tailors in East Coast cities industrialized their production to make extra ready-made clothes called “slops” for travelers, sailors, and new businessmen. Tailors and enterprising clothiers increased production and moved into making better ready-mades in response to two factors. When the city population soared, business grew and trade with the South and West created wholesaling opportunities. Zakim describes how innovations in measuring and fitting suits prepared the groundwork for the expansion of the business well before the introduction of the sewing machine and mechanization. Many custom tailors went into the ready-made business or worked for the large ready-made firms. By the s cheaper, well-made ready-made suits were beginning to be accepted by all classes. The leading clothing capitalists in the initial period of the s and s were non-Jewish clothiers who sold ready-made suits, shirts, and furnishing items retail and wholesale in large elegant emporiums.5 One such gentile establishment , Lewis and Hanford, by  had  working on their premises and [18.118.30.253] Project MUSE...