Vintage Fashion Postcards

At a recent visit to Archie McPhee's - a place I would strongly recommend if you are ever in the Seattle area - I picked up some postcards. Vintage fashion advertisements always catch my eye. These cards are ads for Berkshire Hosiery, Lilion, and Label 4 Jrs.

So of course I had to do a google search on each, which of course led me down the rabbit hole aka slippery slope. Berkshire hosiery is an American company which is still going, not a lot about the history of the company on their site. They are based in North Carolina and it sounds like they make a great effort to keep their product Made in USA. It was not a company I was familiar with before picking up this card, but I think I may have to try a pair of their opaque tights. It did bring on a discussion about Leggs stockings with my daughter. Remember their egg packaging. 

I distinctly remember asking neighbours to save these for me when I was a child. I found so many uses for them.

For the Lilion postcard I didn't really find anything at all beyond a couple of other images/pc's being sold on ebay. I will have to dig a bit deeper and see if I can unearth anything else about the company at a future date.

The Label 4 Jrs was mostly other images also. But when researching them I also started looking up info about Antron a nylon fabric created by Dupont. This brought on more research as where I grew up many people worked at the local Dupont plant. Often I forget how fabrics such as Antron are trademarked. During the late 50's,60's and into the 70's nylon fabrics were considered wonder fabrics and often used in clothing. I also associate these nylon fabrics as hot, smelly and uncomfortable, definitely not something to wear on a humid day. This also was a time when every piece of clothing no longer needed to be ironed - Yeaahh. Many of the fabrics during this time period were also wonderfully vibrant and of a more simple structure. Now most bathing suits are blends with such fabrics as lycra/spandex but suits including Antron will definitely dry quicker. Today Antron is more commonly associated with carpets and its water repellent nature then its use in garments.