By At Home Wear for Ran Raalte

Peach Lurex Vintage Mini Dress

I was surprised when I came across this cute little 70s lurex mini dress and found an unusual Van Raalte label in it. 
This little dress has a simple A-line shape with artful gathers at the bust to create a curvy shape. The fabric is a sparkly silver lurex on a peach poly knit. It very likely was a long maxi dress that has been cut shorter.  Definitely not a typical design from Van Raalte.

"At Home Wear" was started by Spanish fashion designer Fernando Sanchez in 1973.  He studied fashion at École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne in the early 50s and was a classmate of Yves Saint Laurent.  He worked at Nina Ricci and later Christian Dior designing lingerie and knitwear and also worked for Vanity Fair.  He is also known for his glamorous and extravagant colorful dyed furs he designed for Revillon in the 1960s and early 1970s. His designs are described as "Seductive, luxurious, trendsetting, and expensive

..."

Fernando created "At Home Wear" with an emphasis on lounging pieces for easy glam at home and was an initiator of the concept of lingerie being worn as outerwear.  He must have designed a line of lounging pieces for Van Raalte but I can find no specific information or advertising of these. 

Another example:

A groovy lounging dress with a bright autumnal floral print, courtesy of BoudoirBarbie

XOXO Empress

A Note

This blog was really intended to be a reference guide rather than a true daily weblog; what this means is that posts are sporadic as I add new information when it comes up in my research. If you are interested in Van Raalte Lingerie I recommend that you follow this blog and you will be notified of any updates. I just added the "Follow This Blog" gizmo at the top right. Please contact me if you have any new information about this company's history or have any unique items that you would like to share. If you or a member of your family worked for Van Raalte I would really love to hear your stories! Finally, if you notice any errors in this info guide please let me know.

XOXO Empress Jade Vintage.

Van Raalte Gloves

Van Raalte made so many styles of gloves over the years and did not trademark glove names, so it's often difficult to date them accurately. I've used the newspaper archives and vintage advertisements as a rough guide to dating.

Silk Gloves and Leather Lined Silk Gloves: (1913 to approx 1930):

First of all a correction: My timeline info gives 1918 as the date Niagara Silk Mills was purchased by Van Raalte Silk Mills , however I recently found the following advertisement on Ebay dated a year prior. I can't find any trademark or patent info on "Niagara Maid" or "Niagara Silk Mills", so we need to assume VR bought them sometime in the late teens. I've never come across any silk garment with the Niagara Maid label, so please contact me if you have one.

Van Raalte "Niagara Maid" Silk Underwear Ad from Oct 6th 1917 Dry Goods Economist Magazine, courtesy of Millcliff

By 1920 VR seems to have abandoned the "Niagara Maid" name in it's advertisements. But I did find one newspaper ad for Dec 16th, 1925 advertising 600 pairs of Niagara Maid silk hose on Sale for $1.65!

1920 Double Tipped Silk Gloves ad also from Millcliff

The very last advertisement I can find for Van Raalte Silk Gloves is dated Oct 20, 1930 from The Argus, an Australian newspaper. They mention only having a table full of oddments, so we can assume this was a clear out of old stock.

Rayon Gloves (1939 to early 1950s):
I found an article in the New York Times dated Dec 2, 1939 which appear to have been their introduction...

"Gloves knit of nylon and rayon have gone on the 'market at $8 a dozen to retail at $1.25 a pair. They are manufactured by the Van Raalte Company..."

"Hands Away Sleight of hand glove fashion which frees fingertips at will but keeps arms glamorously deep in rich rayon jersey", 1945 (art work by Leisin Lenin), ad courtesy of Adventures Into The Past

The last reference I can find of VR rayon gloves is in 1950; an ad for amer-suede, sueded finish rayon gloves.

Nylon Gloves: (1939 to 1960s???)
Manufacturers only really started using nylon on a mass scale after WWII. Women loved it for it's terrific fit and ease of care. Some of the glove styles were incredibly glamorous!

1948 ad (artwork by Henry Luhrs), main image features evening gloves of black ruched nylon net embellished with sequins. Courtesy of Adventures Into The Past


By the mid 50s Van Raalte was advertising Nylon gloves in an astonishing array of colors and styles.

1956 Nylon Gloves ad - courtesy of Adventures Into The Past

In checking the Newspapers archive the last advertisement I found for nylon gloves was in 1958, however I know Van Raalte continued to make gloves into the 60s, and probably well into the 70s. See this blog post for a look at a cool pair of 60s mod thumbless gloves. And note the 60s font is different.

XOXO Empress Jade Vintage

Van Raalte Trademarks

Van Raalte Trademarks
We have categorized by the date the trademark was first used. In some cases Van Raalte used a name for many years before filing it with the US Patents and Trademarks office, so the trademark registered date may be later. We have also included the registration # if you want to look up the record.

• 1913
  VAN RAALTE Fabric gloves, hosiery & underwear
  Registration #0154726
  Trademark registered 1922
  
  
• 1925
  SINGLETTE Combination undergarments of knitted silk fabric
  Registration #0268626
  Trademark registered 1930
  
  
• 1927
  BECAUSE YOU LOVE NICE THINGS
  Registration # 0544657
  Trademark registered 1951.
  
  
• 1929
  MESHETTES Underwear of knitted fabric
  Registration #0267609
  Trademark registered 1930.
  
  
• 1930
  ILLUSION Hosiery
  Registration #0278045
  Trademark registered 1930.
  
  FLEXTOE Hosiery
  Registration #0272386
  Trademark registered 1930.
  
  FAUN-TEX Silk Gloves
  Registration #0282384
  Trademark registered 1931
  
  STRYPS Underwear & Lingerie
  Registration #0548030
  Trademark registered 1951
  
  
• 1931
  WOOLWYNS Underwear of knitted fabric
  Registration #0286845
  Trademark registered 1931
  
  SLENDARE Underwear of knitted fabric
  Registration # 0290050
  Trademark registered 1931
  
  THE MYTH hosiery
  Registration #0292996
  Trademark registered 1932
  
  QUEEN'S LACE hosiery
  Registration #0295114
  Trademark registered 1932
  
  SANDEES underwear of knitted fabric
  Registration #0294110
  Trademark registered 1932
  
  POLKA LACE- laces in the form of piece goods
  Registration #0295350
  Trademark registered 1932
  
  PHILMY - hosiery (note: we've also seen this on clothing items).
  Registration #0531632
  Trademark registered 1950
  
  SHEERIO Hosiery & underwear
  Registration #0316541
  Trademark registered 1934
  
  THE WISP hosiery
  Registration #0291775
  Trademark registered 1932
  
  
• 1932
  CRUISERS Pajamas
  Registration #0295603
  Trademark registered 1932
  
  VAN RAALTE RUN PRUF STOCKING
  Registration #0296326
  Trademark registered 1932
  
  NORUN hosiery
  Registration #0295140
  Trademark registered 1932.
  
  FROVOL -Hosery
  (Registration Number 0506203).
  Trademark registered 1949
  
  
• 1933
  FLEXTOP Hosery
  (Registration Number 0315688).
  Trademark registered 1934
  
  
• 1934
  NICETIES Underwear, hosery & gloves.
  (Registration Number 0324251).
  Trademark registered 1935
  
  LAZY BONES Pajamas
  (Registration Number 0324659).
  Trademark registered 1935
  
  MIRAGE Hosiery & underwear
  (Registration Number 0321337).
  Trademark registered 1935
  
  FLEXTRA Hosiery
  (Registration Number 0508155)
  Trademark registered 1949
  
  
• 1935
  ROYAL LACE Hosiery
  (Registration Number 0325803).
  Trademark registered 1935
  
  First use of trademark "Van Raalte" in Canada.
  Trademark registered with CIPO 1945-01-29
  
• 1936
  JAMETTE Underwear
  (Registration Number 0568072).
  Trademark registered 1952
  
  
• 1945
  POWERLASTIC Underwear
  (Registration Number 0422807).
  Trademark registered 1946.
  
  
• 1949
  NYL-O-WYNS Underwear
  (Registration Number 0530720).
  Trademark registered 1950
  
  DARK ACCENT Hosiery
  (Registration Number 0550330).
  Trademark registered 1951
  
  
• 1951
  MIGNONETTE Underwear
  (Registration Number 0574272).
  Trademark registered 1953
  
  
• 1954
  OPAQUELON Underwear & Gloves
  (Registration Number 0612215).
  Trademark registered 1955
  
  
• 1955
  V.R. DOUBLES Hosiery
  (Registration Number 0624545).
  Trademark registered 1956
  
  
• 1958
  SUAVETTE tissue tricot fabric line launched
  (can’t find this trademark)
  
  
• 1962
  PLAIDEES Underwear, briefs, petticoats, pettitights, bras and pj's.
  (Registration Number 0755149).
  Trademark registered 1963
  
  
• 1963
  TAFFEKNIT Slips & petticoats
  (Registration Number 0849450).
  Trademark registered 1968
  
  
• 1965
  SMOOTH ON Bras
  (Registration Number 0821996).
  Trademark registered 1967
  
  
• 1968
  VANILON Pantyhose
  (Registration Number 0878747).
  Trademark registered 1969
  
  VANAIRE Underwear & Lingerie
  (Registration Number 0869029).
  Trademark registered 1969
  
  
• 1969
  CREPESSENCE Lingerie
  (Trademark Registration Number 0882180).
  Trademark registered 1969.
  
  
• 1974
  BETWEENIES
  (Trademark Registration Number 0990225)
  
  BARE BITS
  (Trademark Registration Number 0990224)
  
  SEA BITS
  (Trademark Registration Number 0989651)
  
  
• 1975
  No Slip Up
  (Trademark Registration Number 1002077)
  
  POSTER PRINTS Tops & Scarves
  (Registration Number 1061731).
  Trademark registered 1977
  
  KINDLYKE Gloves
  (Registration Number 1084856).
  Trademark registered 1978
  
  
• 1976
  PERSONALI-TEES
  (Registration Number 1046439).
  
  SUEDERON
  (Registration Number 1046438).
  
  FINGER TIPS
  (Registration Number 1042987)
  
  TURTLE TUCKER
  (Registration Number 1022099)
  
  
  The following trademarks are owned by Warnarco and are listed by filing or registration date. As far as we can tell Sears is no longer selling Van Raalte lingerie.
  
• 1995
  NUDES FOR VAN RAALTE
  
• 1996
  VAN RAALTE CASUAL COTTON COLLECTION
  
• 1997
  VAN RAALTE NUDES COLLECTION
  
• 1998
  VAN RAALTE MESH & LACE
  VAN RAALTE LACY MESH
  VAN RAALTE LUSTROUS LACE
  VAN RAALTE EMBROIDERED
  
• 1999
  VAN RAALTE VELVET DIMENSIONS
  VAN RAALTE SIZZLE SHAPES
  VAN RAALTE FLOWER DELIGHTS COLLECTION
  VAN RAALTE FLOWER CLASSICS COLLECTION
  VAN RAALTE FLOWER COUNTRY COLLECTION
  VAN RAALTE FLOWER TAPESTRY COLLECTION
  VAN RAALTE STRETCH SATIN COLLECTION
  VAN RAALTE STRETCH EMBROIDERY COLLECTION
  
• 2000
  VAN RAALTE SPORT
  
• 2001
  VAN RAALTE SATIN STRIPES
  VAN RAALTE SHEER STRIPES
  VAN RAALTE SIMPLY ELEGANT
  VAN RAALTE EMBROIDERED ELEGANCE
  
• 2002
  VAN RAALTE SIMPLY LACE

SALLY SCHRANK - A Van Raalte Mystery

SALLY SCHRANK by Van Raalte?
A reader sent me these pictures to try to date these Van Raalte PJ's, but I could find nothing in the USA trademark database on Sally Schrank and no advertisements for this line. I've never seen this tag before. It's hard to date the pj bottoms accurately because the design is so simple, but with the boxy style and chiffon trim I would have to guess these are 1960s. If anyone has any other items with this label please let me know.

Update:

After posting this question on the Ebay vintage clothing & accessories forum it has been determined Sally Schrank was a childrens clothing label and were around from at least the late 60s and must have briefly done a line of kids pj's for Van Raalte. One ad was found in the Oneonta Star, The (Newspaper) - February 11, 1971 advertising a Sally Shrank girls pj set, so we know they were around until at least the early 70s. Thanks to catbooks1940s for providing this ad info and I-am-vintage for providing the photos.

TAFFEKNIT

If you like the SWISHY sound of nylon taffeta, look no further than Van Raalte's TAFFEKNIT. This wonderful fabric has a subtle sheen and the crisp unmistakable sexy swish of taffeta. The Van Raalte company registered the trademark for this fabric in May 1968, but it was in use by the company as early as March 25th, 1963.



A gorgeous topaz blue Taffeknit full slip with ecru lace, available at Empress Jade Vintage

LACE

Today we present some ALL LACE creations by Van Raalte. Stunning slips with bombshell styling and sheer illusion lace with the silkiest nylon linings.

A rare FABULACE 50s full slip in rich blue with an emerald chiffon lining. There is a very fine metal side zipper. Empress Jade Vintage

Another amazing all lace slip; this one is in caramel colored floral lace over nylon tricot, with nylon side zipper. Circa late 60s. Empress Jade Vintage

Another stunning FABULACE slip this time in JET BLACK courtesy of VINTAGESLIPS.COM

A unusual sheer blue nylon and brown lace full slip & matching panties courtesy of Floozees Vintage

STRYPS

Serious lingerie collectors always hope to acquire at least one piece from Van Raalte's STRYPS line. The 1940's pieces are a delicious curve hugging spun rayon knit. The pattern is the most subtle tone on tone; alternating shiny and matte stripes. Gloriously comfortable with undeniable sex appeal, these gowns are my absolute favorite.


A Cerulean Blue Stryps Ballet Length Nightgown, courtesy of GUN STREET VINTAGE , likely a 60s vintage.


Here is a truly gorgeous example of a Stryps nightgown in lavender pink, recently sold on EBay by the Silkenhouse who also has their own website at http://www.silverscreenloungerie.com/






Here is another V neck Stryps gown in baby blue courtesy of Molly Rita's Vintage Fashion



Following their huge success of their Stryps line of knit rayon lingerie, Van Raalte found many imitations or "knockoffs" of this style on the market. They did, however, license Sears to sell this style, but not under the "Stryps" name. Sears sold this unique style under the Charmode name, and called them simply "Rayon Tricot". Here is an example of a lavender pink Charmode teddy ( or onesie) which is identical to the lavender pink gown show at the top of this page. Information and photos courtesy of the Silkenhouse and the http://www.silverscreenloungerie.com/




About dating.
The earliest Stryps ad we found was dated 1933 and the latest was 1968.

SHEERIO

Van Raalte's SHEERIO line, used the most beautiful silky and ultra sheer nylon imaginable. Most of the labels I've seen have the SHEERIO name on them, but occasionally you will see the same fabric called PHILMY Sheerio, or sometimes just PHYLMY. These pieces are becoming harder to find and are commanding high prices, so if you have an opportunity to own a Sheerio piece do not pass it up.

"Sheerio" trademark registered in 1934, but was in use as early as 1931. The trademark was renewed by Van Raalte in 1974. It is now dead.


Here is a great Sheerio Ad from 1949


A superb PHYLMY full slip with embroidered chiffon Empress Jade Vintage


A delicious crystal pleat Sheerio nightgown and a rare Sheerio teddy both courtesy of Heavenly Vintage Lingerie

A pale blue flounced Sheerio nightgown with embroidered chiffon - courtesy of Heartsvintage

Van Raalte TIMELINE

This is a work in progress, so if you have any additional information, or if you see any errors please let us know.

• 1902 or 1907 (conflicting dates at to start of company on VR family website) - Emanuel and Zealie Van Raalte start E. & Z. VAN RAALTE COMPANY in New York City 
• 1910 - First American made veiling produced in a new factory built by Van Raaltes' in Lakeview, NJ
• 1913   - accrording to the US trademark database this logo was first in use 1913

• 1918
  Van Raalte Silk Mills takes over Niagara Silk Mills who are known for their "Niagara Maid" line of gloves, stockings and underwear.
• 1927 "Because you love nice things" advertizing campaign starts
• 1937 - The Van Raalte Mill in Boonton NJ manufactures the first fully fashioned nylon stockings as part of the testing process for Duponts new nylon fiber.
• 1938 - E. I. du Pont de Nemours (Dupont) announces the invention of nylon to the public.
• 1939 - Dupont promotes nylon at the NY World's Fair.
• 1940, 15 May - "N" DAY declared by Dupont. Nylon stockings first go on sale and 5 million pairs are sold in a single day!
• 1941, 26 July - US Government bans use of silk except for military use.
• 1945 - Van Raalte counterfeit "nylon" stockings are sold by profiteers and company gets complaints.
• 1977 - Kellwood Company acquires the US rights to the Van Raalte brand of women's hosiery and bodywear
• 1994 - Warnarco acquired Van Raalte trademark for apparel sold to Sears Roebuck
• 1995 - Sears announces their exclusive Van Raalte Lingerie to be sold in their stores