The success story of Ida Rosenthal – the woman who gave the world the bra

The story of Ida Rosenthal is a clear example of the fact that anyone can achieve success, regardless of what they were born into. Thanks to her efforts and hard work, a simple girl from a Jewish family was able to become a famous clothing designer. It was she who gave the world an accessory that no woman can do without now, namely, a bra.

Ida Kaganovich was born in the small Belarusian town of Rakov. Ida’s mother, Sarah, earned money by selling various small items in a shop, and her father, Abraham, spent his entire life studying the Torah. The place where they lived was a deep province that did not offer any prospects for further development. Therefore, when Ida turned 16 years old, her parents sent her to Warsaw.

Here Ida studied and at the same time worked as a seamstress. The girl was very good at designing and sewing clothes.

When Ida had days off from work and school, she went home to see her parents. On one of these visits she met Willy Rosenthal. The guy was obsessed with revolutionary ideas, and Ida herself soon became imbued with them. The girl even secretly joined the Jewish socialist party “Bund”.

As a result, Willy Rosenthal had to emigrate to the USA. Ida, like a devoted lover, went after him. They settled in the small town of Hoboken in New Jersey. Ida Americanized her maiden name – instead of Kaganovich she became Cohen. Then she and Willie signed, and Ida received the surname by which the whole world now knows her – Rosenthal.

When they arrived in America, the first thing they did was buy a sewing machine. Ida continued doing what she did best – sewing clothes. To ensure that the money she earned was enough for the family, and by that time they had already had a son, Ida took on the most complex orders. And it was a damn right decision! Soon people from all over New Jersey began to turn to her, because local craftswomen could not or did not want to cope with such tasks.

Ida worked tirelessly, thanks to which she became famous throughout the state. Naturally, her income also increased, so the family was able to afford to move to Manhattan. There Ida got a job in Enid Bisset’s studio. Living conditions here were better, and the clients were richer. But she would have remained an ordinary seamstress if one day a brilliant idea had not come to her…

In earlier times, women used hard and uncomfortable corsets as underwear. Later, the first sconces appeared, which were the same corsets, but cut in half. The first bra prototype was invented in 1914 by Mary Phelps Jacobs. But it couldn’t be called ideal either: it was rather “unisex” and hid all the advantages of the female figure, making the chest flat. In addition, there was no gradation in size: the bra consisted of two scarves connected by a silk ribbon. And so Ida, or more precisely, her husband, came up with an idea on how to make this item of clothing more practical.

Together, the Rosenthal couple developed a special design of two cups, which were connected by a strip of fabric. At the same time, they took into account that all women have different breast sizes, and created a range of bra sizes – A, B, C, D. They also added a model with a push-up effect, which visually enlarged the breasts. What Ida and Willy Rosenthal did was strikingly different from all the bra’s predecessors in both comfort and aesthetics.

Naturally, women immediately appreciated this invention. The atelier where Ida worked soon switched entirely to sewing underwear. The salon owner Enid invited the Rosenthal family to become her business partners, to which Willie and Ida gladly agreed.

The success was deafening! Every woman tried to change the old uncomfortable bra to a modern bra made by Rosenthal as quickly as possible. The sewing didn’t stop. Sometimes the couple introduced something new into the product, and Willie took upon himself all the innovative and technical aspects. Ida was involved in marketing and implementation of ideas. She was great at finding customers, which was not so easy in the days without telephones and the Internet.

Even during the war, when the authorities imposed restrictions on the production of certain goods, Ida was able to convince them to keep the bras. She appeared before the commission with an impassioned speech about how a woman without a bra attracts too much attention from others and distracts men. A woman who does not wear a bra may have back pain, and the friction of her breasts against her clothes also confuses her thoughts… Thus, the bra was recognized as a “essential item” and the Maidenform company continued its activities.

It is also worth noting that Ida’s bras played an important role directly during the war. Enterprising Ida developed a line of “bras for men” that were issued to paratroopers. On top of the standard “bust” were sewn special “nest” pockets, into which the paratroopers placed trained carrier pigeons. Once behind enemy lines, they sent military reports with pigeons. Thousands of soldiers were regularly sent to the rear, and each one was wearing such a “bra.”

In the 1950s, the Rosenthal couple’s enterprise was at the peak of its popularity. Their underwear was sold in more than a hundred countries. When Willie died in 1958, Ida became the full owner of the company and continued to work on its development. She was constantly on business trips and dealing with business issues until 1966. Then Ida had a stroke, and she decided to retire, transferring the company to her daughter Beatrice.

In 1973, at the age of 87, Ida Rosenthal passed away. The company founded by the spouses still exists. It covers 45% of the American lingerie market and continues to export products to dozens of countries around the world.