Coach co-founder Miles Cahn passes away at 95

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Feb 18, 2017

Miles Cahn, Co-founder of Coach, passed away on February 10, 2017 at the age of 95.

 
Cahn and his wife Lillian joined the family-run Coach company that made men’s leather products. Possessing knowledge of the leather manufacturing business, the couple took over the Coach business in 1950, producing leather bags and accessories with leather used to make baseball gloves. The Cahns later began producing women’s handbags, as per Lillian’s suggestion, and their products became a huge hit. Miles and Lillian then purchased Coach in 1961 and hired Bonnie Cashin to design Coach handbags.
 
The Cahns sold Coach to Sara Lee for a reported $30 million, and the brand was then structured under the Hanes Group. Lewis Frankfort, who joined Coach as VP of business development, succeeded Cahn as President.

According to an article in WWD, the Cahns decided to sell the company to "devote more time to their growing goat farm and cheese production business called Coach Farm in Gallatinville, New York, which they began in 1983."
 
Miles Cahn and Lillian Cahn, who passed away in 2013 at age 89, are survived by their son Don, their daughters Julie and Susi, and five grandchildren.