Browse Items (34 total)

Marty Krasnov talks about how his father got into the furniture slipcover manufacturing business as well as how the company got the “SureFit” name. During World War II, the firm switched from making slipcovers for furniture to making parachutes for…

Marty Spiro talks about being a manufacturer in women’s popular priced sportswear. After about twenty years in business, Marty serendipitously developed a close business relationship with Candy Seward, top buyer at Thalhimers Department Store,…

Maxine, the younger sister, talks about being influenced by the women’s movement in the 1970s. From that, Maxine returned to school, became a registered nurse and, later, a nurse practitioner. Maxine enjoyed a fulfilling career working with a local…

Mort Miller talks about growing up around his father’s contract sewing business. Later, Mort partnered with his brother-in-law to open their own contract sewing factory. Originally they made women’s underwear, later they switched to making women’s…

Mort Miller talks about growing up around his father’s contract sewing business. Later, Mort partnered with his brother-in-law to open their own contract sewing factory. Originally they made women’s underwear, later they switched to making women’s…

Murray Platt talks about how his father’s family began in New York making women’s shirts, failed due to the unions, and then came in the late 1930s to the Lehigh Valley. Murray’s father, with two partners, established Lehigh Valley Shirt…

Nate Braunstein talks about first failing then succeeding in operating a belt factory with his brother. The business (Atlantic Apparel) began in the 1950s when women’s fashion commonly included shirt-waist dresses with a matching belt (same fabric)…

Robert Levine (three generations in Allentown) talks about how S. Levine & Sons business was started by his grandfather, a peddler in scrap metal originally and later in textile scrap. Robert’s father and his father’s three brothers entered the…

Ronnie Sheftel talks about how when she came from Brooklyn to Allentown as Milt Sheftel’s wife, she was quickly given opportunities to get involved in the small, tight-knit Jewish community. This was foreign to her life growing up in Brooklyn. …

Seth Katzman shares fond memories growing up in Allentown during the 1950s and 1960s. While attending Brandeis University Seth decided that rather than pursue his original plan to attend medical school, he would instead take over his father’s…