California Style The Joe Koret Story

Chronicle Books, San Francisco, Published date: 2018. Hardcover with dust jacket; 336 pp; 25 cm. First edition. Signed by Susan Koret on the title page. Illustrated throughout with black and white photographic illustrations. In very good condition in a very good dust jacket. Blue and white illustrated paper over boards; light bumping and scuffing to edges; binding sound. Interior pages clean and unmarked. Dust jacket shows light edge wear and mild surface scuffing. Now in an archival quality (removable) Brodart cover. Comprehensive biography of Joseph Koret (1901-1982), Russian-born American businessman, fashion industry innovator, and philanthropist, tracing his rise from immigrant poverty to leadership of Koret of California and the establishment of the Koret Foundation. Written by Reed Bunzel in collaboration with the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society, the volume places Koret's career within the broader history of twentieth-century California business, fashion, consumer culture, and philanthropy, with particular emphasis on the development of permanent-press technology and postwar apparel manufacturing. Contents include: Foreword; Preface; New York, New York; The Streets of San Francisco; California Dreaming; The Postwar Boom; The Birth of the Consumer; The Fifties: A New Generation; The Sixties: A Decade of Turmoil; Koratron: Hold the Press; Koracorp: In the Public Eye; The Seventies: The End of an Era; The Old Man and the Sea; Not Your Average Joe; Wedding Bell Blues; Urbane Cowboy; A Foundation of Trust; Sources; Acknowledgments; Index.…