Pretty Polly is a British brand of women's tights based in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, Nottinghamshire, England.

History

The company began in 1919 when Harry Hibbert and Oswald Buckland built a factory in

Sutton-in-Ashfield Sutton-in-Ashfield is a market town in Nottinghamshire, England, with a population of 36,404 in 2021. It is the largest town in the district of Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, Ashfield, four miles west of Mansfield, from the Derbyshire border and ...

, near

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of the Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire (following the city ...

in Nottinghamshire. In 1926 they took over a hosiery wholesaling company that was previously owned by the daughter of a bookmaker who had gained financially from the racehorse '' Pretty Polly''. The Pretty Polly trademark had a parrot as a logo, from another use of the word 'polly'. By 1957, the brand was number two in the UK and the company was bought by Thomas Tilling, who also owned much of the Walton Hosiery company in Sutton-in-Ashfield, which owned the ''Ballerina'' hosiery brand. The two companies were merged in 1961 as Pretty Polly Holdings Ltd.

Innovations

In 1959 the company introduced the first non-run seam-free stockings. To update the company's image in 1962, the parrot was replaced with two letter Ps and the phrase ''Pretty Polly for Pretty Legs'' forming a new ew what?. In March 1967,

hold-ups Hold-ups or stay-ups (in the United States also referred to as thigh-high stockings or simply thigh highs) are a form of stockings with an elasticised band at the top. They are designed to hold themselves up on the thigh when worn, without th ...

were introduced, which avoided the need for

suspender belt A garter is an article of clothing comprising a narrow band of fabric fastened about the leg to keep up stockings. In the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, they were tied just below the knee, where the leg is most slender, to keep the stocking ...

s, and were even featured on ''

Tomorrow's World ''Tomorrow's World'' is a British television series about contemporary developments in science and technology. First broadcast on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003. The ''Tomorrow's World' ...

''. It depended on the invention in 1899 of

silicone In Organosilicon chemistry, organosilicon and polymer chemistry, a silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer composed of repeating units of siloxane (, where R = Organyl group, organic group). They are typically colorless oils or elastomer, rubber ...

by Professor Frederick Kipping at University College Nottingham. In the late 1960s, Pretty Polly was the best-selling range of hosiery in the UK, with a market share of 20%. In 1982,

lycra Spandex, Lycra, or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity (physics), elasticity. It is a polyether-polyurea copolymer that was invented in 1958 by chemist Joseph Shivers at DuPont. Name The name ''spandex'', which ...

(invented in 1959) was introduced.

Expansion

In 1967, an Irish subsidiary was opened at

Killarney Killarney ( ; , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Killar ...

, to keep up with

demand In economics, demand is the quantity of a goods, good that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various prices during a given time. In economics "demand" for a commodity is not the same thing as "desire" for it. It refers to both the desi ...

. In August 1991 the company was bought from

BTR BTR may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * B.T.R. (band), a Bulgarian rock band * Bad Trip Records, an American record label * Beyond Therapy Records, an American industrial music record label * Big Tent Revival, a Christian rock band * Big T ...

by the American

Sara Lee Corporation The Sara Lee Corporation was an American consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois. The Sara Lee name was used of a number of frozen and packaged foods, often known for the long-running slogan "Everybody doesn't like something, b ...

for $187m who merged it with Elbeo in 1993. The company employed around 2,000 workers at this time. In 2005 when the company was owned by Sara Lee Courtaulds, production was moved from ''Unwin Road'' in Sutton in Ashfield to a '

state of the art The state of the art (SOTA or SotA, sometimes cutting edge, leading edge, or bleeding edge) refers to the highest level of general development, as of a device, technique, or scientific field achieved at a particular time. However, in some contex ...

' factory on ''Bridge Foot'' (A517) in

Belper Belper () is a town and civil parish in the local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England, located about north of Derby on the River Derwent. Along with Belper, the parish includes the village of Milford and the hamlets ...

. In May 2006, Sara Lee sold all of its lingerie brands to PD Enterprise, as part of a company known as Courtaulds Legwear.

Advertising

Pretty Polly was the first hosiery company to advertise on TV in 1980. In 1994

Laura Bailey Laura Bailey (born May 28, 1981) is an American voice actress. She made her voice acting debut as Trunks (Dragon Ball), Kid Trunks in the Funimation dub of ''Dragon Ball Z'' and has since voiced List of Gunslinger Girl characters#First Generati ...

modelled for the company, then in 1998,

Eva Herzigová Eva Herzigová (; born 10 March 1973) is a Czech model and actress. Her career took a major turn in 1994 when she became the face of the Wonderbra campaign. The famous "Hello Boys" ad became iconic and contributed to her worldwide popularity. He ...

became the face (and legs) of Pretty Polly advertising.

Sara Cox Sara Joanne Cyzer ( born 13 December 1974), better known as Sara Cox, is an English broadcaster and author. A presenter on BBC Radio 2, she has been hosting the station's drivetime show since January 2019. She previously presented BBC Radio 1's ...

also modelled their hosiery. In 1999 the company launched their first bras, known as bbras. In 2003, English singer

Rachel Stevens Rachel Lauren Stevens (born 9 April 1978) is an English singer and actress. She has been a member of the pop group S Club, which was active from 1998 to 2003, and has reformed once again since 2023. She released her solo debut studio album ''F ...

became the face of PP advertising. In September 2014 it was announced that

Sophie Ellis-Bextor Sophie Michelle Ellis-Bextor (born 10 April 1979) is an English singer and songwriter. She first came to prominence in the late 1990s as the lead vocalist of the indie rock band Theaudience. After the group disbanded, Ellis-Bextor went solo and ...

would be the Face and Legs of Pretty Polly.

Honours

In 2005, the company was honoured as a Superbrand by the Superbrands Council.

References

External links

Website

Reviews of legwear products

News items

Sutton in Ashfield factory closes in April 2005
{{lingerie Sutton-in-Ashfield Clothing companies established in 1919 Companies based in Nottinghamshire Hosiery brands 1919 establishments in England