Miles Cahn (April 18, 1921 – February 10, 2017) was an American businessman and designer who co-founded the Coach Leatherware Company, now known as

Coach, Inc. Tapestry, Inc. is an American multinational luxury fashion holding company. It is based in New York City and is the parent company of three major brands: Coach New York, Kate Spade New York and Stuart Weitzman. Originally named Coach, Inc., the ...

, with his wife,

Lillian Cahn Lillian Cahn (née Lenovitz; December 11, 1923 – March 4, 2013) was a Hungarian-born American businessperson who co-founded Coach New York with her husband, Miles Cahn. Lillian Cahn also created Coach's first line of handbags, which remains ...

, in 1961. The Cahns founded the luxury fashion company, now known for its

handbags 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 man ...

, when they purchased a ting mall wallet manufacturer, then located in West 34th Street 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 ...

, and renamed it Coach. Under the guidance of Lillian and Miles Cahn, Coach was among the first to introduce lines of purses and handbags that were both fashionable and practical.

Biography

Cahn was born on April 18, 1921, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, Jacob and Fanny Cahn. His parents were refugees who had fled from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

to escape the Russian Revolution. He enrolled at the City College of New York, but left to serve in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

's 78th Infantry Division during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Cahn returned to the City College of New York after the war and received his degree in business administration. In 1947, he married Lillian Lenovitz; the couple had met in New York City. The company that would become Coach started as a small men's wallet manufacturer known as Gail Leather Products (also called Gail Novelty Co.), located in a loft in Manhattan in 1941. Miles Cahn's father was one of four investors who had each invested $1,000 dollars in 1941 to help start the company. In 1946, Miles Cahn joined Gail Leather for $50 a week. Miles and Lillian Cahn also owned and operated a separate leather manufacturing company. In 1961, the Cahns purchased the Gail Leather Products, then located on West 34th Street, through a leveraged buyout of the former owners. They renamed their store and factory the Coach Leatherware Company (now known as

). It was Lillian Cahn who suggested adding women's handbags to the Coach product line utilizing the same supple, flexible

cowhide Cowhide is the natural, unbleached skin and hair of a cow. It retains the original coloring of the animal. Cowhides are a product of the food industry from cattle. Cowhide is frequently processed into leather. Process Once a cow has been killed ...

inspired by the material used in

baseball glove A baseball glove or mitt is a large glove (traditionally made of leather, today other options do exist) worn by baseball players of the defending team, which assists players in catching and fielding balls hit by a batter or thrown by a teammate ...

s. Miles Cahn initially resisted his wife's idea, but relented, remembering in a 2013 interview, "I scoffed at first...In New York, there were a lot of handbag companies, and at that time, stores were all buying knockoffs of bags made in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. But my wife prevailed." The new handbags proved to be Coach's most popular, long-term products. Lillian Cahn designed the first Coach handbag, a shopping bag purse, which she based on the 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 delivered as a child for her family's business in

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It is the s ...

. Lillian Cahn's bag purse remains one of Coach's most popular designs. Miles and Lillian Cahn also hired designer

Bonnie Cashin Bonnie Cashin (September 28, 1908 – February 3, 2000) was an American fashion designer. Considered a pioneer in the design of American sportswear, she created innovative, uncomplicated clothing that catered to the modern, independent woman beginn ...

, who created some of Coach's other signature bags and accessories, including the bucket bag and tongue bag, as well as Coach's trademark turn lock fastenings. She also introduced brighter colors to the designs. During the 1960s, both Cahns turned to philanthropic work in support of the

Food Bank For New York City Food Bank For New York City is a non-profit social services organization and the major hunger-relief organization working against hunger in the five boroughs. Its aim is to organize food, information and support for needy citizens of New York City ...

and the New York Public Library. He also took out a full-page ad in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', addressed to then President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

, to protest the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. By the 1980s, Coach's annual sales reached $20 million. In July 1985, the

Sara Lee Corporation The Sara Lee Corporation was an American consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois. It had operations in more than 40 countries and sold its products in over 180 countries. Its international operations were headquartered in Utrec ...

acquired Coach from Miles and Lillian Cahn for an estimated $30 million. Sara Lee expanded Cahn's original product line to include perfume, sunglasses and other luxury accessories. In 2000, Sara Lee spun off Coach into a separate business for approximately one billion dollars. Coach reported $4.4 billion in total sales in 2016. Following the sale of Coach, the Cahns founded the Coach Farm on 600-acres 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. ...

, where they produced aged and fresh

goat cheese Goat cheese, or chèvre ( or ; from French ''fromage de chèvre'' 'goat cheese'), is cheese made from goat's milk. Goats were among the first animals to be domesticated for producing food. Goat cheese is made around the world with a variety ...

. As the business expanded, their original herd of 200 goats grew to more than 1,500 animals. In 2003, Cahn wrote about their experiences as farmers and cheesemakers in "The Perils and Pleasures of Domesticating Goat Cheese". They sold the farm in 2006 when Miles Cahn, who was 85-years old at the time, retired. Cahn focused on writing during his later years. In 2008, he self-published his memoir, "My Story". Miles Cahn, a resident of the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

, died in his apartment in

on February 10, 2017, at the age of 95. He was survived by his three children - Julie Cahn, David Cahn and Susi Cahn, wife of celebrity chef

Mario Batali Mario Francesco Batali (born September 19, 1960) is an American chef, writer, and restaurateur. Batali co-owned restaurants in New York City; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; and Newport Beach, California; Boston; Singapore; Westport, Connecticut; and ...

; and five grandchildren. His wife and business partner, Coach designer and co-founder Lillian Cahn, died in 2013 at the age of 89.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cahn, Miles 1921 births 2017 deaths American company founders American fashion businesspeople American memoirists City College of New York alumni United States Army personnel of World War II American people of Russian-Jewish descent Businesspeople from New York City People from the Upper West Side People from Columbia County, New York Military personnel from New York City 20th-century American businesspeople