Lillian Cahn (née Lenovitz; December 11, 1923 – March 4, 2013) was a Hungarian-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

businessperson A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for the ...

who co-founded

Coach New York Coach New York, commonly known as Coach, is an American fashion house specializing in leather handbags, luggage, and accessories, as well as ready-to-wear. Coach licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear and Paris-based Interparfu ...

with her husband, Miles Cahn. Lillian Cahn also created Coach's first

line Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Arts ...

handbag A handbag, commonly known as a purse or pocketbook in North American English, is a handled medium-to-large bag used to carry personal items. Purse, handbag or pouch The term "purse" originally referred to a small bag for holding coins. In many ...

s, which remains the label's trademark consumer product. She had emigrated to the

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with her family during the

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. After selling Coach in 1985, the Cahns operated a goat farm and cheese-making business in

Pine Plains, New York Pine Plains is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 2,218 at the 2020 census. The name is derived from the geographic character of the region. The hamlet of Pine Plains is on the northern border of the county. ...

Biography

Early life

Lillian Cahn was born Lillian Lenovitz on December 11, 1923 in Hungary. She emigrated to the

with her family during the

Coach

Coach's original line of products focused on men's

wallet A wallet is a flat case or pouch often used to carry small personal items such as paper currency, credit cards; identification documents such as driver's license, identification card, club card; photographs, transit pass, business cards and oth ...

s and billfolds in 1941. It was Lillian who suggested the company branch out into women's

s. "I scoffed at first," Mr. Cahn told the New York Times. "In New York, there were a lot of handbag companies, and at that time stores were all buying knockoffs of bags made in Europe. But my wife prevailed." Cahn also designed the first handbags, based on paper

shopping bag Shopping bags are medium-sized bags, typically around 10–20 litres (2.5–5 gallons) in volume (though much larger versions exist, especially for non-grocery shopping), that are used by shoppers to carry home their purchases. Some are intended ...

s she had used as a child in Pennsylvania.

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

(National Public Radio) called her "the force behind today's high-end leather handbags."

After Coach

After selling Coach in 1985, the Cahns operated a goat farm and cheese-making business in

. Cahn died in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, on March 4, 2013, at the age of 89 and was buried in Pine Plains. She was survived by her husband of 66 years, Coach co-founder Miles Cahn, who died in February 2017.

References

1923 births 2013 deaths American company founders American fashion designers American women fashion designers American fashion businesspeople American women company founders American women in business Hungarian emigrants to the United States People from the Upper West Side People from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Burials in New York (state) 21st-century American women {{US-business-bio-1920s-stub