One shop in a fading industry has feathered the storm.
When Dersh Feather first opened in 1918, there were five prominent plume businesses in NYC’s Garment District — but these birds of a feather didn’t get to flock together forever.
Now, more than a century later, the West 37th Street staple is the last of its kind standing.
The fifth-generation family business has grown to become the main supplier for Broadway, entertainment and fashion — think the closely-watched Victoria’s Secret shows, or the beloved “Sesame Street,” another New York institution.
Yes, Big Bird wears the same plumage as Beyoncé — specifically, her 2012 Met Gala gown.
As for the giant yellow bird, the “Sesame Street” icon has had its feathers sourced from Dersh since at least 2009 — if not much longer than that, records were kept by hand for far too long, owner Shalom Dershowitz said — and most recently zhuzhed up in April.
For the past 107 years, Dersh has been ruffling feathers in the Big Apple — dying, sewing, gluing, steaming and putting together pieces by hand — for some of the biggest names on stage, screen and runway.
Being the last remaining plumage shop is a feather in Dershowitz’s cap.
“My great-great-grandfather started it, and it’s been passed along until it got to me,” the 24-year-old president of the company told The Post.
Their client list reads like a who’s who, including the likes of Alexander Wang, Bergdorf Goodman, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Carolina Herrera and Pamella Roland, just to name a few.
And Dersh Feather has been in the spotlight on fashion’s biggest night, too, as many A-list stars like Cardi B and Cate Blanchett strut their fluff down the runway on the steps of The Metropolitan Museum of Art for the annual Met Gala.
His fluff’s up to snuff
At the 37th Street store, patrons will find all kinds of feathers: ostrich, turkey, peacock, pheasant, goose, vulture, rooster, duck — oh my!
The customer favorite, Dershowitz noted, tends to be the ostrich feather, but they’re actually the most difficult to work with when it comes to dyeing because “you have to get them back to fluffy, how they were originally. That’s the key.”
Most feathers are outsourced internationally, but some, like turkey and down feathers, come from America, though Dershowitz declined to reveal his source.
Specifically, ostrich feathers come from a farm in South Africa — Dershowitz is mum about the name — and they always keep the popular request in stock at the shop. Sometimes, they send plumage to local dyers for custom colors, but the rest of the work is done in-house.
“We have people in our shop sewing, gluing, steaming, making sure it looks good,” he said.
But regardless of what’s difficult to make or acquire, Dersh Feather can turn a concept into reality.
“Whatever someone needs, we’ll get it. We’ll make it happen,” Dershowitz said. “We’ll do quills, we’ll do centerpieces. Someone will come in for a custom dress, somebody else will come for a costume, a hat. Anything that people need, we even do down feathers for pillows if people need.”
Jon Coles — who has been in the feather business for about 50 years and was brought in to co-own Dersh Feather with Shalom’s now-retired grandfather, Jay Dershowitz, about 17 years ago — told The Post that working with designers is his favorite part of the trade.
“Someone comes in, sometimes they just have a sketch or an idea, and I say, draw something and I’ll show you some feathers. Tell me which one strikes your fancy and what you want it to look like,” Coles, 79, shared. “I like working with the people.”
Screen, stage and page
Dershowitz explained that the industry “used to be much less of a custom industry than it is now,” but their feathers are truly famous today.
“It was more wholesale feathers for milliners,” he said. “Now it’s evolved to costumes, Broadway shows, custom, 20-foot boas in different colors for celebrities.”
The company has worked with designers to make looks for celebrities who arrived to the red carpet dressed to quill — including Camille A. Brown’s ostrich feather Marchesa dress at the 2024 Tony Awards, Lady Gaga on the 2012 cover of Vogue, Cara Delevingne for Burberry in 2012, Zendaya in Marc Jacobs during a 2018 outing, Bette Midler, Cher, Katy Perry, Madonna and Rihanna.
And as the only feather shop remaining in the theater capital of the world, Dersh has also been indispensable to Broadway — partly due to his convenient location just blocks south of the bright lights of Times Square.
“It’s really hard to be in the Garment District — rent is high, but we believe in it,” Dershowitz said. “There has to be someone here for designers who come in here for the Broadway shows who are local. They need to be able to send their designers in and pick and choose and feel and see everything. You just can’t do that without a location in the city.”
Dersh has provided feathers for some of the most notable plays and musicals, including “Chicago,” “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Moulin Rouge,” “Rigoletto,” “Suffs,” “Wicked,” “Merrily We Roll Along,” “Mamma Mia,” “Hello Dolly!” and the “stellar,” new Bobby Darin musical “Just in Time” starring Jonathan Groff.
The most challenging piece Dershowitz has ever personally made? A 40-foot, custom-dyed turkey boa for “The Book of Mormon,” mostly because of the size of the product.
On screen, movies such as Oscar winner “Forrest Gump” — yes, the opening scene feather — “Miss Congeniality 2” and “101 Dalmations,” as well as shows including “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Gilded Age” and the new Amazon Prime series “Etoilé,” all feature feathers plucked straight from Dersh.
A ‘meaningful’ legacy goes on
While Dershowitz is helping designers’ visions come to life, he’s also realizing the dreams of his grandfather and Coles, since all prominent feather dealers in Manhattan came from the same European shtetl before the Holocaust.
“They only knew feathers,” Coles explained, adding that these Jewish families had previously worked with feathers under contract to put them on uniforms for the Austrian army.
“I’m so pleased [to pass this on to a new generation]. I cannot tell you,” Coles shared ecstatically. “It’s everything to me.”
And Dershowitz is just as excited to carry on his family’s legacy.
“I love it. I grew up coming to visit my grandfather in the city. Every time we came to the city, we would come into his house and we’d play with all the boas and stuff, and he’d give us feathers to go,” he shared.
“It’s a big part of my childhood. So for me to keep it going, especially as we’re the last in the Garment District, it’s meaningful for sure.”
And Dersh Feather is the one place that’s stayed flying high through it all.
Coles told The Post that “the secret to staying in business, and the reason other people who were in New York are gone … You have to believe in it, and you have to put in a lot of hours.”
“I think we’re obsessed with having the best quality feathers and the ability to make, no matter how small, we’ll do a custom job for you,” Dershowitz added. “Whatever it is, we believe in it. We’ll make it the smallest lot in the world, and we’ll make sure it’s of the highest quality.
“People come to us when they dream of things.”
