History of Aristoc
Back in the days of Elizabeth I, in 1586, William Lee, a poor parish priest in Calverton, Nottinghamshire, invented the first knitting machine. Although he died in poverty, his invention lived on and the hand-frame knitting of stockings became a cottage industry in the Nottingham area. In 1864, William Cotton of Loughborough devised a method of machine-knitting fabric whereby it could be shaped or fashioned automatically, and all machines, which embody this principle, are known as 'Cotton's Patent'.
Early in this century most British women were limited to factory-produced, coarse-gauge wool or cotton stockings, available in black or white - neither being glamorous! However, if grandmama had the money, she could have a pair of pure silk, fine-gauge stockings made by a 'stockinger' on a machine he kept in an upstairs room of his cottage.
After the First World War, American women could buy full-fashioned pure silk 39-gauge stockings at affordable prices.
In England sixteen-year-old Albert Ernest Allen joined his uncle, a small hosiery manufacturer, in Nottingham. By the age of forty-one he had become a director of Robert Rowley & Co. Ltd. at Leicester, one of the largest hosiery companies in the country. He specialized in selling, having picked up all his technical knowledge through years of handling the merchandise.
He was interested in developing a silk hosiery industry in this country and, in 1919, he resigned from Rowley's and sailed for the United States to see how they made silk stockings. On his return, with only £500 savings but with the help of friends, he built a factory at Langley Mill, just north-west of Nottingham. In the village were old cottages, each with its 'stockinger's window', which had been specially shaped to throw light on to the old hand-frame and there was still a reservoir of skilled labour able to work with the finer gauges of yarn. From this he recruited most of his workers, and machinery was brought from America. The company specialized in making stockings wholly or mainly of pure silk. Cotton, and at one time wool, was used for reinforcement and the 'silk' stockings of the 1920's often had cotton tops which extended well below the knee.
At first, silk was dyed and finished prior to being knitted, and the making of such fine-gauge stockings was new to everybody, including the knitters. However, in the mid 1920's the company started using raw gum silk which was easier to handle and could be dyed and finished afterwards.
In 1924, the company registered the name 'Aristoc'. It came about after A E Allen was introduced to a man who had no connection with the hosiery trade but who, on discovering that Allen was a stocking manufacturer, said: 'I've often thought that if I was a stocking manufacturer I'd call my products "Aristoc"'. With that the man said goodbye and Allen never saw nor heard of him again. An application to register 'Aristoc' was made that afternoon, although it was two years before the name was used.
A E Allen spent a lot of time writing the word Aristoc in different ways. Many of the big stores sold only 'own-name brands - some were actually made at Langley Mill, and it was difficult to get them to take Aristoc. The company became Aristoc Ltd in 1934 and later W.L Arber Ltd became a subsidiary.
For several years it operated a three-shift system which covered twenty hours each day.
After the Second World War, nylon became available to the hosiery industry. The first British 'nylons' appeared in 1947, but the Government quickly let it be known that supplies of raw materials would be directly linked to export performance. As a result, Aristoc contributed millions of pounds to the country's foreign exchange. In 1955, Aristoc Ltd opened a factory in Ramsey in the Isle of Man.
In 1993 the company moved its manufacturing to a state-of-the-art factory in Belper, Derbyshire, where electronically controlled knitting machines, using nylon and elastane yarns, produce tights, stockings and holdups.
The industry has come a long way from those 39-gauge stockings produced in America in the early years of the century to the fine 7-denier stockings and tights of today. Aristoc was relaunched in 1995 with an increased market share and wider international distribution. Its current logo is very close to the original script devised by AE Allen in 1924.
