The rise and fall of the house of Barneys
Subtitle: a family tale of chutzpah, glory, and greed
By: Joshua Levine
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: W. Morrow
Published: 1999
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9780688155025
Subjects: Barneys New York; History; Men's clothing industry
Description: It took three generations to build Barneys into the world's most fabulous clothing store - and less than a decade to tear it down. This book is at once a family saga, a cautionary business tale, and a superbly detailed, behind-the-scenes account of how a secondhand store founded on pluck and chutzpah grew into a glittering international retail empire, only to founder on greed and hubris.

Patriarch Barney Pressman started small in 1923, but within two decades he was selling more suits than anyone in the world. By the time his son, Fred, took over in the 1960s, Barneys was a thriving institution, and Boys Town at Barneys was the site of every New York boy's clothing rite of passage. But Fred had loftier ambitions; he was never comfortable with the crass discounter image.

He staked the family fortune on European fabrics and design, wound up transforming the entire world of men's fashion, and made a killing along the way. But it was Fred's sons, Gene and Bob, who really wanted it all - not just a store but a grandiose temple of ultimate chic. Instead, through extravagance, flamboyance, greed, and an arrogant disregard for sound business principles, they raced heedlessly into one of the most spectacular business flameouts in retail history.
Notes: Includes index.