Mann, Jack

Jacob Iiddishman (Yiddishman) was born in 1910 in Chicago to Hyman and Kate Iddishman. In 1920 his father was a tailor and by the 1930 census young Jacob Iddishman became Jack Iiddishman, who was then working as a salesman for a dry goods store.

By 1940 Jack Iiddishman became Jack Mann and the (April) 1940 census records his residence with his sister and her husband while he worked as a salesman for ladies’ dresses. By October 1940 Jack’s draft registration card notes he was working for Chicago furrier S.P. Platt.

Clearly Jack Mann was immersed in the apparel industry from the time of his birth and that exposure segued into the launch of his own apparel business, the Jack Mann Dress Co. In 1950 the first ad for Jack Mann casual and modestly priced dresses appeared in a Chicago paper. Beginning around 1956, ads for Jack Mann dresses paired them with Mann-Mate half-sized dresses, apparently also manufactured by the Jack Mann Dress Co.

By approximately 1971 ads for Mann Mates began to ebb and by 1976 ads for Jack Mann dresses began to disappear. Jack Mann outlived his dress company, apparently never married, and died at the age of 95, in 2005.

Written by LKRanieri

from a late 1950s dress

Courtesy of pinky-a-gogo

from a mid 1960s dress

Courtesy of hatfeathers

from a mid 1960s dress (hang tag)

Courtesy of hatfeathers