Warren Donner, president and cofounder of WD.NY, a successful women’s and men’s apparel company, died Monday of cancer. He was 75.
After working at numerous companies, such as Oleg Cassini and HMS Productions , Donner went into business with his partner Edward Zhu and started WD.NY. The brand manufactures overseas, produces misses’, petites and plus-size women’s sportswear and dresses, social wear, outerwear and menswear. Donner was active in the business until last week. The company is located at 209 West 38th Street in New York.“His company and being in the garment center was everything to him.
“All of people think he’s a tough guy and character, but to me, because I knew him so long, he was kind-hearted,” said Zhu. He said the business grew rapidly and in the first few years was doubling in volume every year. In 2006 and 2007, they started an advertising campaign and had huge billboards in Times Square and on telephone booths and bus shelters. Zhu said they were sued by the Donna Karan Co. because the company’s initial punctuation was W.D.N.Y., and were similar at the time to D.K.N.Y.