Martin Greenfield, a Jewish American who survived the horrors of the Holocaust by learning to sew, died on Wednesday at the age of 95 on Long Island, New York. Mr. Greenfield became known by his influential customers as the greatest men’s tailor in the United States. state.
before becoming of He created suits for director Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 remake, tailoring them for American presidents and legends such as Frank Sinatra and Al Pacino, just to name a few. great gatsbyGreenfield grew up in Czechoslovakia.
In April 1944, at the age of 15, Greenfield was taken to Auschwitz by the Nazis. Auschwitz was a vast concentration camp in occupied Poland where 1.1 million people were ultimately murdered. He never saw his family again.
Greenfield said this in a 2014 interview with Breitbart News’ Wynton Hall about his memoir.The Human Scale: From Auschwitz Survivors to the President’s Tailor” details how he learned to sew while in Auschwitz.
One of my first jobs at Auschwitz was in the laundry washing Nazi uniforms. I rubbed it too hard and it broke. After the soldiers beat me, I took the shirt and a kind prisoner showed me how to sew and mend it. Then he wore a Nazi shirt under his striped POW uniform. I don’t know why. But I did it.
And I noticed that the security guards treated me a little better. “The shirt means something,” I thought. It was then that I realized for the first time that clothes have power.
Martin Greenfield and Winton Hall promote Greenfield’s memoir, published in 2014. (Photo courtesy of Winton Hall)
In 1947, Greenfield immigrated to the United States and built the industry’s largest men’s tailoring business. Martin-Greenfield Clothing, Greenfield’s tailoring business in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was founded during the 1970s and 1980s, when the country’s garment districts went into rapid decline as a result of free trade and companies moving production overseas. Despite being hit hard, it flourished.
Martin Greenfield Clothiers Typical America’s story. After immigrating to the United States, Greenfield began working at her GGG Clothing, a suit factory. After he worked there for 30 years and mastered most of the tasks of suit making, the factory owner decided that he would close the factory in the mid-1970s.
As Greenfield watched his colleagues get laid off, he had other plans for the factory. He soon purchased the factory and reopened it under his own name.
Never one to succumb to trends, Mr. Greenfield rejected overseas production and stuck to the traditional craft of tailoring men’s clothing. Because of both, to this day, some of the country’s most powerful and influential men continue to request custom suits from his shop.
His son, Todd Greenfield, Said of new york times Martin Greenfield Clothiers is the only unionized garment factory left in New York City. We have approximately 50 employees, all of whom have specialized skills to help customers cut, sew, and piece together their custom suits.
Mr. Greenfield counts Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden among his notable clients. His menswear has forever been woven into American culture through movies and celebrities.
“Basically every time you go to a movie, you’ve seen Martin Greenfield in a suit.”Winton Hall Said During the 2015 press event.Those films include his 1992 woman’s scent1987 wall street,2013 wolf of wall street2019 jokerand many more.
Despite his fame, Greenfield credits all his successes to his “eternal hero” Eisenhower, the United States, and the U.S. military who helped liberate him from Nazi oppression. Admitted.
In 2014, Greenfield said, “Everything I am and will be is all about God and the American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who fought and died to free me. Thanks to the members,” he wrote.
Brooklyn, New York – October 10, 2012: Martin Greenfield (center), 84, owner of Martin Greenfield Clothing in Brooklyn, New York, speaks with Dr. Gustavo del Toro on Wednesday, October 10. Taking measurements for a new suit (on the riser). year 2012. (Photo by Joseph Victor Stefanczyk for The Washington Post, via Getty Images)
BROOKLYN, NY – OCTOBER 9, 2012: Martin Greenfield (left), 84, owner of Martin-Greenfield Clothing in Brooklyn, New York, poses with Clarence Norman Jr. on Tuesday, October 9, 2012. I’m making a new suit for (front). (Photo by Joseph Victor Stefanczyk for The Washington Post, via Getty Images)
Brooklyn, NY – October 10, 2012: The walls of Martin-Greenfield’s office are lined with photos and letters from notable clients past and present. Mr. Greenfield’s office is pictured on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 at Martin-Greenfield Clothing in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Joseph Victor Stefanczyk for The Washington Post, via Getty Images)
Brooklyn, New York – October 10, 2012: Martin Greenfield was tattooed with the serial number “A4406” when he entered the Auschwitz concentration camp. The cufflinks (from President Reagan’s White House days) were a gift from General Colin Powell. A Holocaust survivor was photographed on Wednesday, October 10, 2012, at Martin-Greenfield Clothing in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Joseph Victor Stefanczyk for The Washington Post, via Getty Images)
Brooklyn, NY – October 9, 2012: Martin Greenfield (right), 84, owner of Martin Greenfield Clothiers, and Kai Earthsong (left), 21, jacket production coordinator, on Tuesday, October 9, 2012. work. (Photo by Joseph Victor Stefanczyk for The Washington Post, via Getty Images)
Brooklyn, New York – October 10, 2012: Martin Greenfield, 84, owner of Martin Greenfield Clothiers, leaves his factory in Brooklyn, New York on Wednesday, October 10, 2012. Mr. Greenfield works six days a week from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Photo by Joseph Victor Stefanczyk for The Washington Post, via Getty Images)
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Please email jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
