Early Company Challenges
When Lena married Albert Malsin in 1909, he took charge of the business. He systematically began to develop and expand it. Albert instituted engineering exactness, and modern cost accounting and pricing. Sales had reached $50,000 a year by 1910. Albert was determined to steer the operation towards specialization. To produce in quantity and at lower cost he began to have dozens of dresses mechanically cut at once and employed high-speed sewing methods. Lane Bryant began supplying design pattern materials and financing for contractors.
Though Lena came up with an innovative and commercially viable product, she had trouble getting the word out: Tradition dictated that topics like pregnancy were not discussed in the press. Her husband took on this challenge by convincing the New York Herald to accept advertising for their venture in 1911. When the paper did, the shop's entire stock sold out the next day.
Lena saw another need just before World War I. Before then, there were no mass manufacturers of clothing for "stout-figured" women. After measuring 4,500 of her own customers, as well as gathering information from about 200,000 other women, it was obvious that a new challenge had to be met. Lena determined three types of stout women and designed clothing to fit each. Plus-sized clothing quickly eclipsed the maternity line, and by 1923, company sales reached $5 million.
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