Tales From the Schmatta Trade (1)

As told on thrift shop sale day...

Marcus & Wiesen, Inc      Made in U.S.A.

(from pinterest: a product of somewhat newer vintage)

The Vanity Fair brand still exists—as VF, which includes more recently purchased brands (Lee, Timberland). As company history would suggest, the organization went from specializing in ladies' unmentionables to encompassing what might be the other end of spectrum—products meant to convey an image of the rugged outdoors. By now, however, all the stuff likely comes from the same set of Chinese factories.

Marcus & Wiesen, Inc., is not mentioned in that history page, and was probably a sub-contractor for Vanity Fair.

The name does appear in Chain Store Age, Volume 17 (1941). In the section, Directory of Manufacturers (page 42, under "Garters, Ladies' & Children's"), Marcus & Wiesen is listed at 26th E. 14th St., New York.

Emilio Guerra

An extensive and interesting history of 22-26 East 14th Street is found in the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission's 2008 report (pdf). The building began as Baumann Brothers Furniture and Carpet Store, built 1880-1881.

One of the more prominent, prolific, and versatile New York firms in the late-nineteenth century, D. & J. Jardine executed designs for a wide variety of building types, including a number of notable cast-iron fronts, in contemporary styles. The wide cast-iron front facade of the Baumann Brothers store, manufactured by the West Side Architectural Iron Works, is one of the Jardines' and one of the city's most inventive, unusual, and ornamental. Built toward the end of the heyday of cast-iron fronts in New York and the flourishing creativity in that material, the Baumann Brothers store is also a signal achievement of Aesthetic Movement design.

In 1884 Baumann Brothers occupied the entire building and advertised as, "the largest and most complete furnishing establishment in America." During the twentieth century—

For eight decades, the ground story contained 5-10-and-25-cent stores, beginning with the fourth Woolworth store in Manhattan (1900-28), acclaimed at its opening as "the largest ten-cent store in the world" and in 1910 the location of the chain's first lunchroom. This space was later a store for F. & W. Grand, H.L. Green, and McCrory. The upper stories were leased for over eight decades for show rooms and manufacturing by various firms related to the textile and sporting goods industries. This was the location of Rubens & Meyer, hosiery (1901-14); [Lewis Mark] Hornthal, [Joseph J.] Benjamin & [Simon R.] Riem, wholesale clothing manufacturers (c. 1902-23); Sohn, Oppenheimer & Co., fine trousers (1913-29); [Alex] Marcus & [Alex] Wiesner (later Wiesen), elastic specialties, garters, and girdles (1930-85)...

Following ownership changes over the years, the lot was transferred

... in 1967 to the Marcus & Wiesen Realty Corp., whose principals were the long-term garter-making tenants in the building. The southern portion of the lot and the building were conveyed in 1902 to the James McCreery Realty Corp., which retained ownership until 1965, when they were acquired by the Marcus & Wiesen Realty Corp. The entire property was sold to Irving and Elliott Sutton in 1979. The building became a condominium in 1999. The upper stories (Lot 1101), acquired at that time by the New School University, are currently in use as an annex to the Parsons School of Design, while the ground story contains a drugstore and several small shops.

Along the way, the "garter-making tenants" were involved in some legal drama, according to the 1940 Federal Supplement: Cases Argued and Determined in the District Courts of the United States and the Court of Claims, with Key Number Annotations, Volume 30 (Page xxix). The case in District Court of NY.: Marcus & Wiesen v. Universal Brassiere & Just-Rite Corset Co.

At some point the company relocated from such valuable real estate as its original home, but continued in its industry for an undetermined period of time. The last reference I find is from 1995, per a note in this book, Unions and Workplace Reorganization (edited by Bruce Nissen).

A note that's sadly quaint in itself; just imagine, companies deigning to talk with unions. And, it turns out, 1995 was when the storied ILGWU last existed under that name.