An Interview with the Legendary, Hedda Kleinfeld Schacter

Her secrets to success.

RACHEL LEONARD
Hedda, you are a legend in the business. We have a whole new generation of bridal salons and designers who don’t know your story. Since you have been so important to our industry, tell us how it all began.

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
We started as a single storefront in Brooklyn featuring fur and fur-trimmed garments which was popular in the early 1940’s. Then we expanded the store and removed the fur, just selling gowns and evening dresses. We did however still do ready-to-wear by popular demand, however many of our customers wanted our beautiful gowns and special occasions dresses as bridal gowns. Sometimes we bought dresses in white and made them into a dress a bride could wear them for her wedding.

One day we hired a new sales woman who had previously sold bridal in White Plains, NY. She said to us, “Oh, the one thing you need miss is bridal.”

So we thought about it and then decided to introduce wedding dresses into our space by the 1960’s. At first we started small, but then business grew fast. Within two or three years we stayed strictly in bridal and removed eveningwear.

RACHEL LEONARD
Why do you think it grew so fast? Were you the only bridal salon?

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
At the time, all the department stores sold bridal and there were some bridal stores in Brooklyn, but it seems we were just different. We realized that and had to give brides a very large selection to choose from. You sold differently. They all called it now service, service, service and you had to be part of it.

We did maintain very close relationships with our vendors. The vendors weren’t our enemy because they sold to someone else. They were just as important, if not more important, than the customer because in bridal so many vendors are the designers themselves.

RACHEL LEONARD
You discovered a lot of vendors.

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
We saw talent. Very often they were young people that used to work for the other designers or other vendors and when they started their business they came to us for help. And we invited them into the store!

What we found was that the vendor designer was as important as the customer, because without them I would not have have had a good customer.

RACHEL LEONARD
What's your feeling today about two markets, one versus two and your point of view and your experience?

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
I am not that good to judge today's market, but sometimes I visit my former managers in Long Island, Nancy and Susan.

RACHEL LEONARD
I remember going to your store and you were paying attention to everything everyone was trying on in every dressing room.

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
We had 35 dressing rooms just for bridal without the fitting rooms at the end. We started with just one.

RACHEL LEONARD
The stores are also getting beat up by the customer.

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
At that time, stores came and went, but of course mothers were more in charge then. Mothers wanted bridal gowns and didn't mind paying for it. Today brides are a little more independent.

RACHEL LEONARD
I think there are a lot of minimum demands as well from the designer's.

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
They're all looking for something unique that the other designer doesn’t have. You have to help the designer an be aware of today’s fashion trends.

RACHEL LEONARD
I think fashion and bridal work together more than ever before.

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
Back in our time too, we were very aware of fashion and I also had an advantage because of my background. Then we didn’t have to sell, we let the sale close itself. Word got around and people liked it. We were never late with the gown because of our relationship with the vendors.

RACHEL LEONARD
What do you think of about where the Internet intersects with the bridal industry?

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
I realize the Internet is very big today, but personally, we had the magazines, which was I think were bigger in our industry than any other industry. We are a small industry and we had two or three or sometimes four magazines that were full of images.

Because designers had no other place to show their designs then in the magazines, they would showcase their best sellers in the bridal magazines.

RACHEL LEONARD
Did you have an all-time favorite trend or favorite bestselling dress?

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
Oh yes! Princess Diana was the biggest I can remember. Her dress style was a best seller for almost four years after her big royal wedding. That’s when the English dresses came in — off-the-shoulder, light and full skirts and puffy sleeves.

RACHEL LEONARD
So it was really very hands on.

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
It was! We had to sell certain samples as fast as possible because we would have another market in the blink of an eye. If a dress didn't attract too many people, we would just sell the samples.

RACHEL LEONARD
How did you interpret fashion trends for bridal? What instincts did you use and what would attract to a certain style that you would think would sell?

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
Curiosity! I would look in store windows, through bridal magazines, what other people were showing and I would look to the streets to see what others were wearing.

RACHEL LEONARD
Speaking of sales, how did the training work when a new collection arrived at the store?

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
We would have our stock girls come in on an early morning and put the dresses on. Then we would all sit around and discuss them. The managers or myself would sometimes invite the vendors in to review the styles within the new collection and have them highlight important features within each dress.

I also had very good managers - Nancy and Susan, who now own The Wedding Salon of Manhasset and use their training from back in the day and apply it to their store. They always talk about their training and how important it was. Those girls were two of the most talented ones I’ve ever had.

RACHEL LEONARD
And you had brides coming from all over the world.

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
All over the world! I’ve had brides come to me from places such as Hong Kong and Kuwait.

RACHEL LEONARD
If you had a store today, would you have wedding dresses that you could buy off the rack?

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
I would just have samples I would sell off the rack. Because of our great relationships with the designers and vendors, we would be able to alter them properly without any problems.

We tried it but it did not work since sizing would come in 5 months later and they couldn’t get them dirty, so selling samples made more sense.

RACHEL LEONARD
You and Jack made an incredible mark in this industry.

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
We enjoyed it so much!

RACHEL LEONARD
I did a few shoots when I was at Brides at Kleinfeld and remember seeing the two of you in your stock room talking to each other among the dresses and thinking - Wow now that’s really a family business!

HEDDA KLEINFELD SCHACTER
We had to discuss things. Some people used to to ask me how we could be with each other 24 hours a day, but we enjoyed it. It was tons of fun! We've worked very hard. But if you want do well, you have to work hard and put all your senses into it.

RACHEL LEONARD
You have to live and breath it.