Albert and Pearl Nipon opened a maternity wear store in Philadelphia in 1954 and in a short amount of time they grew their business into a chain of stores in the area called Ma Mere. Albert ran the business while his wife, Pearl designed the clothing. In 1972 they transformed their maternity clothing company into an internationally known fashion house of ultra-feminine women's clothing with loyal celebrity clients like Mary Tyler Moore, Nancy Reagan and Barbara Walters. The line's popularity caught the fashion world by surprise and quickly made Nipon's "Albert Nipon" brand of clothing famous. Albert gives all the credit for the line that bears his name to Pearl and her design expertise.