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Bleyle was one of the best known German manufacturers of children's clothes. The company was founded by Wilhelm Bleyle in Stuttgart. The company specialized in knitting, especially for childrens´ clothes. It was especially well lnown for its sailor suits ( „Matrosenanzug“ ).
Bleyle made the standard sailor suits that German boys wore before World War II.
The federal state of Baden-Württemberg celebrated in 2002 its 50th anniversary. Bleyle was mentioned in many events related to this anniversary together with such globally known companies as Daimler, Bosch, Voith etc.
Die Woche (The Week) is one of several German national weekly news magazines, including Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung. Die Woche was founded by Scherl in 1899 and published in Berlin. It was an illustrated news magazine and soon came to rely heavily on photography. As a result it is a valuable illustrated weekly summary of German history in the 20th century. There are also interesting advertisements for a range of products, including clothing. Here is an interesting advertisement for boys' clothes from Die Woche. This ad appeared in the February 22, 1939, issue (p. 39) (figure 1). I'm not sure when the magazine ceased publishing. A new magazine called Die Woche appeared in 1993. The National Democratic Party created 2006 a unrelated Internet newscast of the same name.
Bleyle was one of the best known German manufacturers of children's clothes. The company was founded by Wilhelm Bleyle in Stuttgart.
The company specialized in knitting, especially for childrens´ clothes. It was especially well lnown for its sailor suits ( „Matrosenanzug“ ). Bleyle made the standard sailor suits that German boys wore before World War II. We have an interesting reminiscence by Professor Reinhardt Rudel who wore Bleyle sailor suits only 2 years earlier and who gives us an account of how scratchy they
were, especially when worn with the compulsory long stockings and Leibchen.
Below is a article in the most widespread newspaper of Stuttgart (the capital of Baden-Württemberg) about Bleyle, its growth in the 19th and beginning of 20th centuries and its fall in 1987. There is a short historical personal remark included about wearing Matrosenanzüge manufactured by Bleyle in the 40s. The federal state of Baden-Württemberg celebrated in 2002 its 50th anniversary. Bleyle was mentioned in many events related to this anniversary together with such globally known companies as Daimler, Bosch, Voith etc.
"Selten ist das Schicksal eines Unternehmens so sehr mit einem Produkt verbunden wie bei der Stuttgarter Textilfirma Bleyle. Aufstieg und Fall:
beides ist eng mit dem Matrosenanzug verknüpft. "Wahrscheinlich fand meine Mutter diese dunkelblauen Anzüge einfach schmuck und verpasste sie deshalb ihren Söhnen", erinnert sich einer, der als Kind leidvolle Erfahrungen mit den legendären Matrosenanzügen gesammelt hat. "Ich selber fand zwar die Tracht albern, aber das wäre noch zu ertragen gewesen; denn sie stellte ja die typische Sonn- und Feiertagskleidung dar, mit der man nie hätte in die Schule gehen müssen. Viel schlimmer war, dass die Bleylehosen so schlimm kratzten. Die ganzen Oberschenkel waren nach einer einzigen Stunde Tragezeit innen wund, sodass das Jucken ständig zunahm." Des Sohnes Leid, der Mutter Freud. Sie sahen vor allem die Vorzüge. Und die lagen nicht zuletzt in der Reparatur. Denn zum einen kümmerte sich Bleyle darum, dass die verhassten Hosen und Oberteile schnell wieder verfügbar waren. Und zum anderen sah man den guten Stücken die Ausbesserung so gut wie nicht
an: Dank der Stricktechnik waren sie nahtlos wiederherzustellen."
"Der Matrosenanzug hat das Image von Bleyle geprägt. Praktisch und
bieder wie etwa auch das Bleyle-Damen-"Reformbeinkleid Oja". Ein Image,
das am Schluss mit zum Untergang eines Herstellers beitrug, der einmal
Deutschlands größtes Strickereiunternehmen war. Selbst als Bleyle schon
längst keine Matrosenanzüge mehr fertigte und stattdessen auf
hochwertige Damenbekleidung setzte, hing dem Unternehmen an der
Rotebühlstraße noch der Ruf nach, altbacken zu sein. 1987 ging Bleyle
nach fast hundertjähriger Firmengeschichte Konkurs. Nur die Erinnerung
an den Matrosenanzug lebt noch." [Stuttgarter Zeitung]
A first crack sat the translation is, "
The fate of an enterprise is as much connected with a product
rarely as at the Stuttgart textile company Bleyle. Ascent and
case: both is closely linked with the sailor suit. "Wahrscheinlich
my nut/mother found these dark-blue suits simply decoration and
gave her therefore to their Soehnen", remembers one, which
gained as a child sorrowful experiences with the legendary sailor
suits "Ich found the tracht talks nonsense, but still had that to be
borne; because it represented the typical sunning and holiday
clothes, with which one would have never had to go into the
school. It was many worse that the Bleylehosen scratched so
badly. The whole thighs were after only one hour stretcher time
inside wund, so that itching constantly zunahm." The son wrong,
the nut/mother Freud. They saw above all the advantages. And
lay not least in the repair. Because on the one hand Bleyle
worried about the fact that the hated trousers and upper sections
were fast again available. And on the other hand one did not
regard the good piece the repair as well as: Owing to the cord
technology they were to be restored smoothly. The sailor suit
coined/shaped the image of Bleyle. Practically and conventionally
as for instance also Bleyle lady "Reformbeinkleid the Oja". An
image, which contributed at the conclusion also to the fall of a
manufacturer, that was once Germany largest
Strickereiunternehmen. Even as Bleyle already long manufactured
no more sailor suits and instead on high-quality lady clothing,
hung for the enterprise to the Rotebuehlstrasse still the call set
after, old-baked to be. 1987 went to Bleyle to nearly hundred-year
firm history bankruptcy. Only the memory of the sailor suit lives
still." Stuttgart Zeitung
The boys in the 1939 Bleyle advertement here wear short trousers with long-sleeved shirts that have rounded collars Peter Pan collars (figure 1). In one case the collar matches the shirt; in the other the collar is a contrasting white. We don't know what colors the outfits were. Note that one boy wears knee socks while the other wears white ankle socks. The ankle socks are perhaps a bit unusual for February, a very cold month in 1939 Berlin, but the advertisers are obviously looking
forward to the Spring and Summer season. The clothes shown in this ad would have perhaps been worn
with long stockings during the winter months in the chillier parts of Germany. We see many photographs of German schoolboys during the 1930s wearing long stockings with their short trousers.
The ad copy reads (in translation): "You can see how good these youngsters feel in their healthy, practical, attractive Bleyle-Clolthing outfits."
Stuttgarter Zeitung (April 24, 2002).
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