Nell (Donnelly) Reed
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mapfan1
N 39° 05.767 W 094° 28.510
15S E 372432 N 4328478
Nell Donnelly Reed, was a pioneer in women's ready-to-wear clothing in the 1920's and 1930's.
Waymark Code: WMA0P5
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 10/27/2010
Views: 6
Nell Donnelly Reed was a pioneer in women's ready-to-wear clothing in the 1920's and 1930's. In 1916, Mrs. Reed began making and selling ruffled dresses to replace the drab, cotton house dresses of the period. By the 1940's her clothing company was described as the largest of its kind in the world.
In 1916, Mrs. Reed began making and selling ruffled dresses to replace the drab, cotton house dresses of the period. By the 1940's her clothing company was described as the largest of its kind in the world.
Mrs. Reed said her frilly designs under the Nelly Don label helped challenge conventional thinking of pre-World War I America that it was impossible to give style to clothing in the cheap price range. Her first dresses sold for $1, considerably more than the average price of 69 cents. Savvy in Business, Mrs. Reed was described by Fortune Magazine in 1935 as possibly the most successful businesswoman in the United States. She was considered one who was ahead of her time, being among the first business leaders in her city to offer paid group hospitalization for employees and an unlimited number of tuition-paid night courses and scholarships for their children at local colleges.
Through her business, the Donnelly Garment Company, a $3.5 million business with 1,000 employees in 1935, she helped turn Kansas City into a thriving ready-to-wear manufacturing center.
In 1931 Mrs. Reed was the subject of national headlines when she and her chauffeur were kidnapped at gunpoint outside her home and held for ransom. The $75,000 ransom went unpaid and the two were released unharmed 32 hours later. Two men received life terms for their part in the abduction.
The prosecutor in the kidnapping case was James A. Reed, a former United States Senator and former Mayor of Kansas City, whom she would later marry. Mr. Reed, who served three terms in the Senate, from 1911 to 1929, died in 1944.
She said she began adding frills to house dresses so she could "make women look pretty when they are washing dishes," she once said.
The rapid growth of her company in the 1930's brought efforts by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union to organize her plant, but despite legal maneuvers that reached the United States Supreme Court, her company was still union free in 1948.
Description:
Nell Donnelly Reed, was a pioneer in women's ready-to-wear clothing in the 1920's and 1930's.
Date of birth: 03/06/1889
Date of death: 09/08/1991
Area of notoriety: Other
Marker Type: Monument
Setting: Outdoor
Visiting Hours/Restrictions: 8 Am to 5 PM
Fee required?: No
Web site: Not listed
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