Or they are resistant to more than 5 washing

The origin of the tights for women Dim... a man. In 1958 Bernard Giberstein launches first low Sunday so named to "give everyday products a festive air. A few years later, on the advice of Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, patron of Publicis, its lower will remove the "handle", winning their letters of nobility. It will suffice to adapt a music without Word (Ta ta tatatata...), composed by Lalo Schiffrin for western "Hang the top and short", and Dim tights come in the legend. For its part, the eponymous company will be the rank of world leader, with today yet 40 market share.

Yet, at thirty-seven years, nothing is predestined Bernard Giberstein to the textile industry. After having founded a company to import of Apple juice, this son of chemical industry of Polish origin, opens in Troyes a weaving business, which seemed a sector of the future, at a time where American finds, such as Nylon, come on in postwar Europe.

Because, if it is not an inventor, this training agronomist of... flair and principles. "Innovation is not inventing but believe in new products", a custom report. He began by acquiring one of the first looms "straight", arrived in Europe from the United States. And develops to at the outset a strategy that it will apply to Sun, until he left the company in 1975, a year before his death. Its golden rules Simplify manufacturing to reduce costs, opting for a mass distribution (Dim was the first brand of tights sold in supermarkets) and a policy of affordable prices without sacrificing quality. "He had set mission to democratize a mode which was previously reserved for the elite", says Fabienne Mallat, artistic director of the Dim brand.

To do this, "he was a wise use of all forefront products and successfully over the years, appropriating all revolutions," explains Jean-Paul Faure, responsible for R & D footwear at Dim service.

Since its inception, the company has innovated on all fronts, methods of making the materials used, passing through the packaging of its products. Thus, Bernard Giberstein operated the advent of the Nylon over silk. And then, he has traded straight trades against machines to develop seamless stockings. Similarly, at the risk of shock, he marketed his tights, chiffonnés, in a cardboard cube, which has "greatly reduced production of a sticky time", said Jean Fenandez, responsible for the standardization in the R & D footwear at Dim. He was also the first > "". "When it launched a new product, it did not hesitate to assign or"break"the old equipment for new manufacturing", provide the evidence of the time.

After the death of its founder, in 1976, Mon, past the hands of baron Bic, the US group Sara Lee and then Fund Sun Capital Partners, has continued on this path. "Philosophy remained in the DNA of the brand", assure Fabienne Mallat.

A hundred patents

Innovate is a particularly strong need that, faced with competition from the pants and longevity of new fibers, the tight market is at end of breath. He rose from 194 million pairs of stockings sold in 1996 to 83.5 million in 2006 in France.

In 1986, Dim Up stockings are free from the garter belt, a scholarly deposit of silicone textile technique. Success is still, even if, as a first step, certain lots of Dim Up fell on the pins of their consumers.

In 1988, the firm has dared the revolution of Lycra, a synthetic fiber stretchable, more resistant than rubber, which mixed Nylon allows its tights Diams, to combine resistance to look shiny and silky unreported. Sun, who holds a hundred patents, went to manufacturing in 1997 invisible tights, but establishing the skin of a natural Tan Japanese process combining Nylon and polyurethane!

Over the years, the company has added to its products other than aesthetic virtues. After the triumph of tights "flat tummy" thanks to a technique of knitting, Dim has introduced the Cosmétiq line '. Some stockings had thus slimming ambitions, with billions of microcapsules impregnated in the textile which gradually release of caffeine and Centella asiatica on the skin of the legs. The problem These tights, at high prices, must be worn between 21 and 28 days to ensure that the active ingredients act fully. Or they are resistant to more than 5 washing. Dim ago abandoned temporarily and started, in 2003, to produce, with fragrance manufacturers, perfumed tights Dimessence. Impregnated with essence of lavender and flower tights Orange had relaxing properties. Conversely, others to the smell of lemon, orange and grapefruit were conditioners.

The list is still long and constantly stimulated by existing products. In the fall, Easy Up, a Dim Up without lace Garter, should see the day with a new art to the silicone textile. "The challenges are always more numerous, comfort, strength and beauty for a perfect leg," says Fabienne Mallat.

In addition, new fibres reaching the market and equipped with heating, soft or luminescent virtues should not leave indifferent tights manufacturer.