Lilian Lenovitz was born in Hungary and emigrated to America at the age of 10 during the Great Depression in 1933. Her family settled in Wilkes-Barre and as they were establishing themselves her mother made noodles at home for sale to help support the family. Lillian and her siblings would fill paper shopping bags and deliver the noodles to customers. Eventually the family opened a store on East Market Street, and Lillian continued to work in her family’s business delivering groceries and helping in the market.
Lillian graduated from GAR High School in 1942 as the class Valedictorian, and married Miles Cahn in 1947. The couple worked in Manhattan running a leather goods business that made men’s wallets and billfolds. In the mid-1950’s Lilian suggested the company start making women’s handbags. The company partners didn’t like the idea, but Lilian persisted and prevailed, and soon the couple purchased Coach Leatherwear Co. to run themselves.
The Coach concept originally was very simple. A durable bag that could be used everyday. They chose a very special leather that wasn't being used for making handbags — as a matter of fact, it was used to make baseball gloves. The Cahns pitched the idea of the Coach bag as something that would wear well, season to season, with many outfits — a bag to brag about. After a couple of "break-even" years, the Coach started taking off, thanks to customer loyalty — and a large tote bag inspired by the shopping bags of Lillian's childhood.
In 1961 the Cahns hired a professional designer to expand the handbag brand, and built a line of accessories that became an icon of accessible fashion and durable style for women worldwide. They sold the Coach company in 1985 and retired to Pine Plains, N.Y. where they operated a goat farm and cheese-making business until Lillian Cahn’s passing in 2013.
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Lillian Lenovitz Cahn
Lilian Lenovitz Cahn (1923 - 2013) led a company innovation that became a worldwide fashion brand - Coach. Inspired by her Wilkes-Barre days, her ideas made luxury bags both practical and accessible to women for generations.
