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In 1976, a relatively unknown dress designer, her textile veteran husband and two partners established, Liz Claiborne Inc.,
a design-driven company that would revolutionize the fashion industry - from how women dress for work, to where product is sourced, to how it is sold into and at
department stores. With less than half a million dollars and a clear focus on design, quality and value, these four partners - Liz Claiborne, Art
Ortenberg, Leonard Boxer and Jerome Chazen - created what is now a nearly $5 billion public company.
The concept was simple: Provide the ensemble driven sportswear that had been available for many years at designer level prices
, but make it affordable for the working woman.
Liz Claiborne Inc. became a large company in a small industry very quickly and in 1981 went public to much fanfare. In a time when apparel company
IPOs were not well received Liz Claiborne's offering was highly successful. And this was just the beginning...
by 1985 Liz Claiborne Inc. was the first company founded by a woman to be listed in the Fortune 500.
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