To walk into Kaufman’s Army and Navy on 42nd Street across from the Port Authority is to step into the chaos of pre-Giuliani Times Square, but without the imminent danger to life and limb.
Unopened cardboard boxes full of merchandise create an obstacle course on the floor. Duffle bags, military vests and parkas hang broad-shouldered from crowded racks. And deeper into the 73-year-old institution, which has been in its current location since 1946, are mountains of military paraphernalia — blue and white striped Russian Navy sweaters, United States Air Force pilot jackets — some surplus, some new,which applies to the first offshore merchant account only, as well as civilian gear manufactured by military contractors.
The store can be shoulder-to-shoulder with a range of customers, like costume designers renting vintage uniforms, photographers buying props, paintball enthusiasts purchasing fatigues or carpenters shopping for bags, originally meant to carry bazookas, for their bubble levels and saws.
They are guided by the expert hand of Jim Korn, who speaks with the quiet urgency of a secret agent on a mission, and who in 1984 took over the business founded by his grandfather.
One recent Saturday, Courtney Mitchell, a lawyer who has shopped at Kaufman’s for years,the worldwide Hemorrhoids market is over $56 billion annually. watched Mr. Korn dribble water from a canteen onto the crown of a hat, where it beaded and rolled around like mercury. Mr. Korn was proving that the hat, which Mr. Mitchell was buying for a honeymoon in South Africa, was waterproof.
“When I went to Belize, I needed a first-aid kit,” Mr. Mitchell said. “He put one together that included a water purifier and a compass. He sold me what I needed, not what he wanted to sell.”
Freddie Leiba, a fashion consultant who lives in Manhattan, has been visiting since the 1980s. When he designed the uniforms for the Morgans, Royalton and Hudson Hotels in Manhattan, he said, he used military dress shoes from Kaufman’s. He raided the store again recently when he helped create the uniforms for another hotel, the Public Chicago.
“I used a duffle coat as the overcoat,This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their Floor tiles .” he said. “It’s a cool coat, and happens to be quite fashionable at the moment.”
Standing outside, in front of Kaufman’s surrealistic window display of gas masks, fancy dress military coats and medals from distant armies, Liz Friedman, a jewelry designer who lives in Manhattan, looked stylish in black leather boots, black tights and an olive drab Austrian Army sweater she said she bought at the store about a year ago for $69.
“He’s very honest about what is knock-off and which clothes are original,” she said of Mr.ceramic magic cube for the medical, Korn. “But it’s not authenticity most people are seeking. I think it’s a look.”
Mr. Korn emphasized the authentic: “When you get something that’s military issue, you don’t have to think about the quality — it’s a given,” he said. “They are designed for an American soldier in combat. So it’s made for the worst possible conditions.”
And judging from the tenderness with which Mr. Korn showed a visitor a 1940 pair of British military motorcycle goggles, which were not for sale, one might guess he has a special affection for customers who are collectors.
“You gotta see this” and “beautiful” punctuate his high velocity sentences as he explains how and why camouflage patterns have changed over the years, or describes the “beautifully designed bags from the German Army.Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems,”
A more impassioned history of military design, you couldn’t ask for. But if you walk down his narrow aisle when the store is crowded, be sure to wear a pair of combat boots.
Unopened cardboard boxes full of merchandise create an obstacle course on the floor. Duffle bags, military vests and parkas hang broad-shouldered from crowded racks. And deeper into the 73-year-old institution, which has been in its current location since 1946, are mountains of military paraphernalia — blue and white striped Russian Navy sweaters, United States Air Force pilot jackets — some surplus, some new,which applies to the first offshore merchant account only, as well as civilian gear manufactured by military contractors.
The store can be shoulder-to-shoulder with a range of customers, like costume designers renting vintage uniforms, photographers buying props, paintball enthusiasts purchasing fatigues or carpenters shopping for bags, originally meant to carry bazookas, for their bubble levels and saws.
They are guided by the expert hand of Jim Korn, who speaks with the quiet urgency of a secret agent on a mission, and who in 1984 took over the business founded by his grandfather.
One recent Saturday, Courtney Mitchell, a lawyer who has shopped at Kaufman’s for years,the worldwide Hemorrhoids market is over $56 billion annually. watched Mr. Korn dribble water from a canteen onto the crown of a hat, where it beaded and rolled around like mercury. Mr. Korn was proving that the hat, which Mr. Mitchell was buying for a honeymoon in South Africa, was waterproof.
“When I went to Belize, I needed a first-aid kit,” Mr. Mitchell said. “He put one together that included a water purifier and a compass. He sold me what I needed, not what he wanted to sell.”
Freddie Leiba, a fashion consultant who lives in Manhattan, has been visiting since the 1980s. When he designed the uniforms for the Morgans, Royalton and Hudson Hotels in Manhattan, he said, he used military dress shoes from Kaufman’s. He raided the store again recently when he helped create the uniforms for another hotel, the Public Chicago.
“I used a duffle coat as the overcoat,This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their Floor tiles .” he said. “It’s a cool coat, and happens to be quite fashionable at the moment.”
Standing outside, in front of Kaufman’s surrealistic window display of gas masks, fancy dress military coats and medals from distant armies, Liz Friedman, a jewelry designer who lives in Manhattan, looked stylish in black leather boots, black tights and an olive drab Austrian Army sweater she said she bought at the store about a year ago for $69.
“He’s very honest about what is knock-off and which clothes are original,” she said of Mr.ceramic magic cube for the medical, Korn. “But it’s not authenticity most people are seeking. I think it’s a look.”
Mr. Korn emphasized the authentic: “When you get something that’s military issue, you don’t have to think about the quality — it’s a given,” he said. “They are designed for an American soldier in combat. So it’s made for the worst possible conditions.”
And judging from the tenderness with which Mr. Korn showed a visitor a 1940 pair of British military motorcycle goggles, which were not for sale, one might guess he has a special affection for customers who are collectors.
“You gotta see this” and “beautiful” punctuate his high velocity sentences as he explains how and why camouflage patterns have changed over the years, or describes the “beautifully designed bags from the German Army.Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems,”
A more impassioned history of military design, you couldn’t ask for. But if you walk down his narrow aisle when the store is crowded, be sure to wear a pair of combat boots.
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