Jerry Gilden was a maker of moderately-priced women's ready-to-wear in the 1940s into the 1960s.  He started his manufacturing business in 1945, and ten years later was one of the top five producers of women's dresses in the United States. 

Gilden started work in the garment trade when he was just 14.  For years he worked as a salesman and product developer at Majestic Specialty Company, a maker of sweaters.  When he started his own company he hired a designer named Giselle.  She was responsible for designing the dresses and separates that made the Gilden name famous.

After Giselle's death in 1952, Gilden took as his partners Sayde and Abe Weinberg, with Sayde becoming the designer of the Jerry Gilden lines.  At the peak of production, Gilden was producing over a million garments a year