Jacob H. Horwitz

Jacob H. Horwitz (1 January 1892 – 11 October 1992), known as Jack, was an American businessman and philanthropist and a fashion innovator whose company, Horwitz and Duberman (founded 1925), was one of the first to specialise in junior miss and teenage clothing. Horwitz was born 1 January 1892, in London. His family migrated to America while he was a child, with the assistance of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. He went to school in Connecticut, graduating in 1910. Rather than study engineering at Yale University, the young Horwitz and a friend decided to launch a grocer's in Manhattan. As a member of the National Guard of the United States Horwitz was called into service under John J. Pershing to participate in the Pancho Villa Expedition. When he returned, he found the grocery business had been bankrupted. Horwitz then served in World War I in France as a sergeant, and as a cavalryman in Argonne. Horwitz formed the Horwitz & Duberman company in 1925. His partner, Duberman, was a Ukrainian Russian Jew who had emigrated from Hamburg in April 1913 after deserting from the Russian Army, and became a naturalised citizen in 1920. Horwitz & Duberman originally produced shirtwaists, which Horwitz added skirts to in order to create dresses. In 1987 Horwitz recalled that when young women and teenagers had to buy clothing, they were forced to buy adult size clothing and then alter it to make it fit. At that time, the "junior miss" market was largely overlooked, and by offering clothing under the "Judy and Jill Fashions" label specifically for teenagers and young women, Horwitz's business proved successful. In 1939 the company offered dresses branded with the name of the popular actress and singer Deanna Durbin, who was in her late teens at the time, and a Junior Miss size. Horwitz was awarded the Coty Award in 1947 alongside Nettie Rosenstein, Adele Simpson, and Mark Mooring, the made-to-order designer for Bergdorf Goodman. That year, the awards were selected to reflect the best examples of each of the industry's four main branches, with Horwitz chosen to represent junior fashion.