Wolford AG
Established 1950Hosiery, also referred to as legwear, describes garments worn directly on the feet and legs, varying in color, design, and transparency. The term originated as the collective term for products of which a maker or seller is termed a hosier. Those products are also known generically as hose.
Founded in 1950 by Reinhold Wolff and Walter Palmers in Bregenz (Austria), a city with a genuine textile heritage, Wolford AG is a manufacturer of hosiery, bodysuits and underwear. The company initially focussed on the production of women’s stockings made from real and artificial silk.
Wolff and Palmers experimented with used American cotton machines, customizing them for their own purposes. They were the first to process polyamide fiber into stockings, making them more durable. Wolford is best known for its seamless products, but also for its co-operations with photographers such as Helmut Newton, Howard Schatz, Jean Baptiste Mondino and Rankin, which contributed to the iconic status of the brand. Not the first, but by innovation definitely the best and most well-known manufacturer of hosiery in the world.
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