Berlei is a

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

of women's

lingerie Lingerie (, , ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fashio ...

and in particular

bra A bra, short for brassiere or brassière (, ; ), is a type of form-fitting underwear that is primarily used to support and cover a woman's breasts. A typical bra consists of a chest band that wraps around the torso, supporting two breast cups ...

s and

girdle A belt without a buckle, especially if a cord or rope, is called a girdle in various contexts, especially historical ones, where girdles were a very common part of everyday clothing from antiquity until perhaps the 15th century, especially for w ...

History

The company began in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1910. The Berlei brand originated in 1917. Berlei undergarments are now sold in Australia by

Hanesbrands Hanesbrands Inc. is an American multinational clothing company based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It employs 65,300 people internationally. On September 6, 2006, the company and several brands were spun off by the Sara Lee Corporation. Han ...

and in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

by Courtaulds Textiles. Berlei conducted a research project to quantify Australian 'figure types'. Berlei Figure Type Indicator 1950s a735001

The name came from that of the firm's founder, Frederick Richard Burley, who felt that his name as normally spelt was not contextually appropriate to his products. Berlei Limited was one of the first Australian companies to expand outside Australia. Berlei (

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

) Limited was incorporated in 1923, and Berlei (U.K.) Limited was organised in 1930.

Founder

Frederick R. Burley (29 May 1885,

Hamilton, Victoria Hamilton is a city in south-western Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia, at the intersection of the Glenelg Highway and the Henty Highway. The Hamilton Highway connects it to Geelong. Hamilton is in the Australian House of Representatives, ...

– 26 May 1954,

Wahroonga, New South Wales Wahroonga is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of Ku-ring-gai Council and Hornsby Shire. N ...

) was the founder of Berlei. Burley was a pioneer in employee relations and an accomplished public citizen, holding office in the Rotary Club and contributing to other worthy organizations. In the custom of Rotary he would introduce himself to other clubs with his name, his club, and his occupation as a "maker of jewel caskets". In 1923, he founded the

Australia Made Preference League Australia Made Preference League was the organisation behind the Great White Train that travelled through New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Au ...

and served as the first president of the League. The League created the

Great White Train The ''Great White Train'' was an effort in the 1920s by Sydney based industrialists to convince Australians to Buy Australian Made. Background The concept was put forward by the Australia Made Preference League, a consortium of New South Wales ...

as a promotional tool for early Australian industries. He travelled widely to learn business and trade information, to make business partnerships, and to get materials for his factories. The movie ''Undercover'' was made about the early years of the Berlei company and the life of Frederick R Burley.

History of Berlei Limited and associated companies

Berlei Limited was started in 1910, as a company called Unique Corsets in

, after Fred Burley discovered that the corset business was profitable and that the wholesale segment of the business could be prosecuted on an

import replacement Import replacement refers to an urban free market economic process of entrepreneurs replacing the imports of the city with production from within the city. The idea was invented by Jane Jacobs who spun off from the idea of import substitution dev ...

basis. Burley made his first overseas business trip to the US in 1913, to research methods and investigate the use of machinery of the time. The 'frenchified' brand name of Berlei was conceptualized soon after and was registered in Australia in 1917. (While this might reasonably be accordingly pronounced after the French style as 'bur-LAY', it is commonly still pronounced as if written 'burley'.) United Corsets became Berlei Limited in 1920. BerleiHouseSydney

The original factory was in Wilmot Street, Sydney with additional space being used in Liverpool Street. In January 1922, the factory was moved to Berlei House in Regent Street. Fred Burley's vision for the company was "To Design and Manufacture Corsets and Brassieres of such perfect Fit, Quality, and Workmanship, as will bring pleasure and profit to all concerned, while at the same time rendering such excellent service to our Clients and Consumers as will merit their permanent patronage". Berlei's approach to marketing was professional.

Berlei (NZ) Limited

Berlei (New Zealand) Limited was started in 1923, with a staff of fifty growing to 665 employees in 1961. Bendon Berlei Limited merged with Ceramco Apparel Group Limited on 8 April 1981.

Berlei (UK) Limited

A branch of the Australian company was opened in the United Kingdom in 1930, with staff of forty. The company grew to a staff of 702 in 1961. A 'modern' factory was built in Slough in 1937, it was demolished in 1984. Berlei (UK) was purchased from Berlei Hestia of Australia in 1982. Berlei (UK) called in a receiver in November 1985, subsequently it was purchased by Courtaulds Textiles. In March 2000, Courtaulds Textiles was sold to

Sara Lee Sara may refer to: People * Sara (given name), a feminine given name People with the given name * Sara Aboobacker (1936–2023), Indian writer and translator * Sara Ahmed (born 1969), British-Australian writer * Sara Allgood (1880–1950), Ir ...

. Sara Lee sold Courtaulds Textiles to Hong Kong–based PD Enterprise Limited in May 2006.

Footnotes

References

* * * * * * * * * * {{lingerie 1910 establishments in Australia Clothing companies established in 1910 Retail companies established in 1910 Clothing brands of Australia Lingerie brands Lingerie retailers