I just read an article in my newspaper this week, which provides some interesting background info on Akris. As stated in the label resource, the company was started in 1922 by Alice Kriemler-Schoch to produce aprons, and her son Max took the business over formally in 1944.
From 1946 to 1966, Akris operated a small apron factory in a small town in eastern Switzerland, where most of the income came from farms and jobs, especially for young unmarried women were scarce. They worked hard, and had to give most of their earning to their fathers, so it wasn't an easy life though. However, they seem to have been well-enough treated as employees, and bonded together over their work. A Swiss author has just published a book on this, "Schürzennäherinnen", providing insight into young women's lives in an underprivileged region. This article also provided some interesting further information on how the company developed in the beginning:
Alice Schoch's aunt had an apron-factory, and that is where she learned to sew. When her aunt died, she would have liked to take the factory over, but couldn't, because her brother inherited it. So she saved money for a year to buy a sewing machine and started to produce aprons herself. In 1921, at the age of 25, she married Albert Kriemler. When he was traveling across the country as a shoe cream salesman, he took his wife's apron collection with him, and his wife and her helpers would sew the aprons that had been ordered the following week. Production grew, so she had to set up a proper small factory and employ more people. They soon branched out into producing blouses as well, and businesses in their area started putting in orders, as well as the Globus department store (still exists today - is the high-end department store chain in Switzerland). Her son Max entered the company because Albert Kriemler died in 1944. And while Max took care of the business side of things, Alice was still the boss they say. When interest in aprons waned in the 60s, they branched out into other types of women's fashions. And the rest is... history as they say.
I think it's interesting story - also the idea of a young woman setting up her own small production and to keep going with it (and finding a husband who supported her in it!) which certainly isn't usual for Switzerland at the time.
Karin
From 1946 to 1966, Akris operated a small apron factory in a small town in eastern Switzerland, where most of the income came from farms and jobs, especially for young unmarried women were scarce. They worked hard, and had to give most of their earning to their fathers, so it wasn't an easy life though. However, they seem to have been well-enough treated as employees, and bonded together over their work. A Swiss author has just published a book on this, "Schürzennäherinnen", providing insight into young women's lives in an underprivileged region. This article also provided some interesting further information on how the company developed in the beginning:
Alice Schoch's aunt had an apron-factory, and that is where she learned to sew. When her aunt died, she would have liked to take the factory over, but couldn't, because her brother inherited it. So she saved money for a year to buy a sewing machine and started to produce aprons herself. In 1921, at the age of 25, she married Albert Kriemler. When he was traveling across the country as a shoe cream salesman, he took his wife's apron collection with him, and his wife and her helpers would sew the aprons that had been ordered the following week. Production grew, so she had to set up a proper small factory and employ more people. They soon branched out into producing blouses as well, and businesses in their area started putting in orders, as well as the Globus department store (still exists today - is the high-end department store chain in Switzerland). Her son Max entered the company because Albert Kriemler died in 1944. And while Max took care of the business side of things, Alice was still the boss they say. When interest in aprons waned in the 60s, they branched out into other types of women's fashions. And the rest is... history as they say.
I think it's interesting story - also the idea of a young woman setting up her own small production and to keep going with it (and finding a husband who supported her in it!) which certainly isn't usual for Switzerland at the time.
Karin
. From what I read, they must have been very good quality aprons though.