History

Located in the heart of New York City¹s famed Fashion and Garment District, M&J Trimming is considered a New York institution. Offering both wholesale and retail sales, M&J is a favorite shopping destination for the world¹s top fashion designers, costume makers, interior designers, and sewing/craft enthusiasts.

Established in 1936, the company started in the middle of America¹s Great Depression when Michael Cohen, the grandfather of the current M&J Executive Vice President Michael J. Cohen, started a linen store business with a determined spirit unhindered by the adverse times. Formerly called the Outlet Linen Store, it was located strategically at the heart of commerce activity for the garment industry on 6th Avenue (the Avenue of the Americas).

Customers could find a wide eclectic selection of tablecloths, handkerchiefs, and ceramics piled high on merchandising tables. In 1959, Mr. Cohen’s eldest son, Joel Cohen, joined the business after completing his service in the US Army. Joel immediately began to "modernize" the business by installing better lighting, reorganizing merchandise, and implementing several store upgrades.

The linen store was a popular hangout for several neighborhood friends. Sitting on the low merchandising tables, businessmen from around the area would often spend hours drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and talking about business and life. One day after a gathering, a salesman left a roll of lace on the counter as collateral for a five-dollar loan. Customers soon started to ask about the lace. By the time the salesman came back a few days later to pay off his debt, Mr. Cohen said, "Forget the five dollars, get me more lace!" Thus began a new extended line of trimming products.

Shortly after seeing the heavy demand and sustainable business in trimming, Joel Cohen started to redirect the business away from linen to focus on providing the best selection of quality trimming. The store was then renamed M&J Trimming. As the “J” in M&J, Joel continued to drive the business forward, and even developed creative store window fronts filled with decorative trims year-round which eventually became a big crowd-pleasing attraction. More importantly, M&J Trimming cultivated a solid reputation for great quality and inventory of trims, fringes, lace, ribbons, tassels, buttons, rhinestones, beads, buckles, clasps, and more.

M&J Trimming is now known for selecting the best products from all over the world. Their rhinestone crystals are from Austria, their silk Jacquards from France, hand-cast metal buttons from Italy, and handmade wood-beaded fringes are from India. They believe that "freedom in selection gives freedom in design," and continue to add daily to their offering of over one million products.

M&J's products are used in home furnishings, beauty and all aspects of the garment trade by companies including L'Oreal, Victoria's Secret, Lancome, Clinique, Bath and Body Works, The Gap, Macy's, and Dillard's. With the advent of their website, mjtrim.com, M&J has frequently been recommended to individual consumers in such publications as New York Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, In Style, Vogue, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Jane Magazine, and Marie Claire.