Going Steady

When Manhattan Hosier Abraham Feinberg stitched himself into control of the fraying Julius Kayser & Co. a year ago, the company's once-famous line of medium-priced lingerie, gloves and stockings had about as much sex appeal as sackcloth. Board Chairman Feinberg set out to woo the hard-to-sell, fashion-conscious college and career girl, hired top designers to turn out fetching new trifles, e.g., red "mambo" panties. He also revamped Kayser advertising to emphasize girlish glamour instead of spinstership thrift: "Be Wiser--Buy Kayser," its longtime slogan, became "You Owe It To Your Audience." When Kayser's new-looking 1955 lingerie collection was shown last June, it drew the biggest crowd of department-store buyers in Kayser's history, spurred a 50% spurt in sales.

At the same time, Feinberg started reaching out for other well-known lines, e.g., Catalina swimwear (which claims to be the world's biggest swimsuit maker), Fruit of the Loom hosiery. Last week, still pulling itself up by the garters, Kayser agreed to pay $13 million for Milwaukee's thriving Holeproof Hosiery Co. (1954 net: $1,157,984), one of the biggest U.S. lingerie and stocking manufacturers. The merger, Kayser's sixth in one year, will make it the world's largest producer of lingerie, stockings and women's accessories. Solidly in the black, after six years in which sales plummeted from $27,500,000 to $19,400,000 (fiscal 1954 loss: $500,000), Kayser and subsidiaries expect to gross more than $45 million this year, up to $85 million in 1956.

Get Good Names. Kayser's quick climb, a one-year wonder in an ailing industry, is cut right to the pattern of rangy (6 ft. 4 in., 200 lbs.) 47-year-old Abe Feinberg's whole career. A hosiery salesman's son who went to work at 14 "cleaning 17 cuspidors a day for 17 underwear salesmen," Feinberg rose to be a cuspidor user in two years, quit his $75-a-week salesman's job when it interfered with his evening studies at Fordham Law School. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in law (which he never practiced), was helping "put together" hosiery combines by the time he was 25.

As head of Hamilton Mills, a lucrative hosiery concern which then wholesaled its output to chain stores, Feinberg became convinced, in an era of overproduction, that hosiery manufacturers would need well-known retail names to survive, bought into Kayser and then Fruit of the Loom. Now, he says: "We have a sense of assurance that we will be accepted."

Chairman Feinberg's air of unhurried assurance belies a dozen outside activities. He heads Brandeis University's board of trustees, directs fund-raising for causes ranging from the Truman library to the United Jewish Appeal. In his spare hours Feinberg finds time (and an opportunity to display Catalina Bermuda shorts) for golf with his red-haired wife, also likes to swim, play squash,' handball and gin rummy. He has few expensive tastes beyond 60-c- cigars and conservative, $200 custom-made suits, says: "I drive the oldest Cadillac in Westchester."

"Keep Seducing." Feinberg admits cheerfully that he is "unfettered by knowledge in the fashion business." The firm's merchandising expert is President A. Philip Goldsmith. He, Executive Vice President Benjamin Hinerfeld, the financial brain, and Feinberg own one-third of Kayser stock. Feinerg gives designers a free hand, asks them only to watch their price tags. Says he: "In this business nothing ever wears out except stockings. You have to keep seducing the buyer."

In its affair with the lady customer, Kayser wants to go steady with the young buyer. Says Abe Feinberg, whose pretty 19-year-old daughter is already trying to wangle a Kayser dealership from her father for Sarah Lawrence College: "Get a woman young, and she's yours for life."

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