Nu-mode was founded in 1950 by Fred Singer (the youngest of 13 children from a Polish-Jewish family who had immigrated to Toronto in c. 1900), and his cousin Henry Zagdanski, a Holocaust survivor who came to Toronto in 1946. They ran the company as a small operation until they were bought out by Dylex Diversified in 1967. Singer and Zagdanski continued to manage the company, which grew into a large manufacturer under new ownership, employing over 150 people at its height of operations in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1997 Singer and Zagdanski retired and sold off their shares to a former employee, Saul Greenberg. The company had troubles surviving WTO competition from countries with cheap labour, and finally closed in 2019.
Written by Fashion History Museum, Cambridge, Ontario
from a 1960s dress
Courtesy of Fashion History Museum, Cambridge, Ontario
