This ca. 1965 image from a stereoview slide is giving new life to the idea of shapewear this #FashionFriday.
This item was once part of a sales kit belonging to Floyd Hollenbeck (1920-2002), and was used to promote the elasticity and durability of nylon stockings from Hanes Hosiery Mills Company. Hollenbeck worked for Trimfit Hosiery, a distribution company for Hanes. Working out of Los Angeles, California, he traveled throughout a large west coast sales region, working to contract with department stores to sell Hanes Hosiery.
Hanes Hosiery Mills Company was established in 1901 as Shamrock Mills, operating out of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 1914 the company’s name changed and in 1918 the manufacturing focus shifted from men’s socks to women’s socks. After the invention of nylon hosiery in 1938, the Hanes Hosiery Mills Company became an early manufacturer of the product.
This item is part of Hagley Library’s Floyd Hollenbeck sales kit for Hanes Hosiery Mills Co. stereoviews and viewer (Accession 2013.226) contains twenty-four stereoviews of the Hanes Hosiery Mills Company Winston-Salem manufacturing plant and offices, product photographs, and images of workers performing various tasks throughout the manufacturing process. The collection also includes the stereoviewer, stereoviewer instruction booklet and Floyd Hollenbeck’s business card. To view the collection online now, click here.