Lane Bryant

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Logo of Lane Bryant stores

Lena Himmelstein Bryant Malsin (1879? - September 26, 1951) was an American clothing designer and retailer who founded the plus-size clothing chain Lane Bryant.

1 Early Life & Career
- 1.1 Marriage & Family
2 Company Growth
3 Today
4 External links

[edit] Early Life & Career

Lena Himmelstein was an orphan raised by her grandparents in Lithuania who immigrated to the U.S. when she was 16, where she found work in a sweat shop at $1 a week. In 1899 she married Brooklyn jeweler David Bryant, helping him with his business and bearing him a child. Bryant died soon after the birth and, penniless, she moved in with her sister on West 112th St. in Manhattan, where she supported herself selling negligees and tea gowns made from delicate laces and fine silks.

In 1904 Bryant moved to Fifth Avenue between 119th and 120th Streets, renting the first floor of a building for $12.50, living in the rear and using the front room as a shop, hanging garments from the gas fixtures. Her sister's new husband lent her $300 to open a bank account as working capital for the purchase of fabrics. A bank officer misspelled her name on the application, and Lena's first name became "Lane".

Bryant earned a reputation for the clothing she made for heavier or pregnant women. Bryant created a comfortable and concealing tea gown by attaching an accordion pleated skirt to a bodice using an elastic band. Soon she opened a new shop at 19 W. 38th Street where she employed a dozen girls and began to serve a wider clientele.

[edit] Marriage & Family

In 1909, at 27, she married Albert Malsin. A Lithuanian-American mechanical engineer with a degree from the Anhalt Polytechnic in Köthen, Germany, Malsin had worked for a firm that built amusement parks worldwide. Three more children, Theodore, Helen and Arthur, were born to the couple.

[edit] Company Growth

Malsin took charge of the business and systematically began to develop and expand it. Where Lena had worked without patterns and measurements, he instituted engineering exactness, and modern cost accounting and pricing. The business grew to $50,000 annually by 1910. Determined to steer the operation towards specialization, they began selling plus-size dresses for street wear and evolving Lena's earlier designs.

To produce in quantity and at lower cost they began mechanically cutting dozens of dresses at once and employing high speed sewing methods. Lane Bryant began supplying design pattern materials and financing for contractors; a mail-order business was developed for the women preferring privacy about their condition. The company's sales passed $1,000,000 by 1917. By 1919 their "stout catalog" had 52 pages and the "maternity catalog" 76 pages.

[edit] Today

In 1982, the Lane Bryant operations were purchased by The Limited which subsequently licensed the catalog operations to Brylane (now Redcats) in 1993. The retail operations were sold to Charming Shoppes in 2001, which has since expanded the chain and introduced on-line sales and outlet sales. Today Lane Bryant is a large retail chain, present in many shopping centers across the United States. Charming Shoppes will regain the license for the catalog operations in late 2007.

In 2002, two great-grandsons of Lena Bryant started a company named Fashion To Figure. They continue their family's legacy at the forefront of full fashion with their new specialty chain.

In 2004, two other great-grandsons of Lena Bryant's (and the grandsons of Arthur Malsin) organized a buy-out of the Merrow Machine Company the last American Manufacture of sewing machines. They now operate it in Wareham, Massachusetts.