Founder Profile
Lillian Cahn
Last reviewed: October 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Lillian Cahn?
Lillian Cahn is a founder of Tapestry, Inc., which was founded in 1941 with Miles Cahn.
- Company founded
- Tapestry, Inc.
- Founded
- 1941
- Co-founders
- Miles Cahn
Background
Lillian Cahn worked alongside her husband Miles in the family leather goods business in New York. After the couple sold Coach to Sara Lee in 1985, they founded Coach Farm, a goat cheese business in upstate New York.
Founding Story
Lillian Cahn co-owned the Manhattan leather workshop that became Coach. In 1961 she pushed the business, then known mainly for men's wallets and billfolds, into women's handbags, and the early bag designs drew on the shape of a paper shopping bag. That move turned handbags into Coach's core category, which is still the base of Tapestry's business today. Lillian Cahn was born in 1923.
Sources
This profile does not yet cite a source specific to Lillian Cahn. The sources below document the company company rather than the person, so check them against the claims above.
- Tapestry FY2026 results (Tapestry, Inc.)
- Tapestry FY2025 results (Tapestry, Inc.)