THE RISE AND FALL OF TODAY’S MAN

THE RISE AND FALL OF TODAY’S MAN
From Retail Darling To Wall Street Disaster

Fred Lavner
Coming Soon

Two brothers, the sons of Holocaust survivors, deciding after spending their formative years working at their parents’ socks & underwear business at the Berlin Farmers Market, that their had to be a better way to make a living.  Flush with $30,000 cash handed to them in a paper bag by their parents, David and Larry Feld set off to their hometown of Philadelphia to find a spot for a men’s sportswear store.  They found their Valhalla in a rundown section of Old City Philadelphia in 1971, and after 30 years that one tiny store grew from a seller of disco dreck sportswear to a chain of over 40 menswear superstores located in Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia and Chicago.  The was the fabled rise.  The fall came as the result of bad business decisions, hiring too many empty suits at the executive level, and struggling to succeed in spite of David Feld’s mismanagement and reckless spending.  To the trades and newspaper gossip pages, Feld had become a flash in the pan, a nouveau riche party boy who spent more time with newfound friends on his yacht and less time tending to business.  The fall was swift and embarrassing.  This informative and entertaining book details all the ups and downs.

310 pages Hardcover

About the Author
As a Philadelphian and menswear shopper Lavner knew of Today’s Man from its earliest days and ultimately joined the firm as Chief Creative Officer in 1987.  Over the next seven years Lavner brought style, substance and continuity to Today’s Man advertising and strategized new market entries in Metro Washington, D.C., North Jersey, New York and Chicago.  Additionally, Lavner helped develop the marketing materials for a public launch in 1991.  Despite leaving the company in 1994 he still maintained a cordial relationship with his onetime nemesis, David Feld, even serving as a creative sounding board on occasion.  Few people, if any, knew as much about Feld and Today’s Man as Lavner, and this book is as much his memoir as it is David Feld’s.