Russell Keller Laros | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 28 June 1895 Easton , Pennsylvania, United States |
| Died | 12 November 1955 (aged 60) Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Industrialist, innovator, and philanthropist |
| Known for | Founder of R.K. Laros Textile Co., multimillionaire and benefactor |
| Spouse | Helen Kostenbader |
| Children | 5 |
Russell Keller Laros (June 28, 1895 - November 12, 1955) was an American industrialist, innovator, and philanthropist who founded the R.K. Laros Textile Co. [1]
Born in Easton, Pennsylvania, Russell Keller Laros founded the R. K. Laros Silk Company in 1919 and the Laros Textile Company in 1933.
The R. K. Laros Silk Company became one of the top silk manufacturers in the country at the time and went on to produce silk lingerie fashions of the early to mid-20th century. [2] At its peak, the R.K. Laros Silk Company was the largest thrower of silk in the country, employed more than 2,000 people and used more Japanese silk than any other company in the world. [3] At the time, it was said that one out of every 12 pairs of silk stockings came from Laros, and the Laros data book became the go-to handbook for the silk throwing industry. [4]
The Laros Textile Company manufactured and sold fine underthings known for style and smartness, as well as utility and service. Laros was the first slip manufacturer to acknowledge that the feminine figure is not uniformly proportional. One notable resultant Laros invention was the 1938 patented Dimensional Slip, designed to fit any female body type. Laros went on to sell eight million units in United States, and Laros garments were sold in high-end retailers in the United States, including Saks, Lord & Taylor, Marshall Field, Neiman Marcus, and Burdines. [4]
In the 1940s and 50s, Laros hired fashion designer Helen Hunt Bencker and artist John La Gatta to design the finest lingerie and market it to glamourous women around the world. [5]
Laros patents included a thread cleaning attachment for winding (1936) [US2065991A]; the no-ride slip [US2271749], a sheerness meter for measuring sheerness with respect to material, production, and color (1941) [US2231953A]; a nylon thread designed to refract rather than reflect light to create non-glossy stockings [US2668430A], among others.
Both the R.K. Laros Silk Company and the Laros Textiles company continued operating separately until the “silk freeze” in 1941 stopped the supply of silk for the throwing industry, and the R.K. Laros Silk Company ceased operation. [4]
Later, as the silk industry moved into nylon, Laros worked with Du Pont engineers to help them integrate the new product. [4]
During World War II, The Laros Textile Company shifted production from hosiery to fragmentation parachutes. In 1942, the Army contracted Laros to sew 50,000 M-26 flare parachutes. In 1943, Laros received a contract for 73,000 M-40 bomb parachutes. Laros also produced Army hospital pajamas, Navy signal flags, and pennants. [4]
In 1952, under a government contract, the R.K. Laros Textile Co. became one of three companies in the United States to manufacture Plavolex, a synthetic blood fortifier. [6] [7] Plavolex was used heavily on the front lines of the Korean war. [6]
The Laros family sold Laros Inc. to Warner’s in 1957, and the companies merged in 1960. [5]
The Laros name lives on with The Helen and R.K. Laros Foundation, a non-profit charitable trust started by Russell K. Laros and his wife, Helen. The Foundation supports projects pertaining to art and culture, education, environment, and health and human services in Bethlehem, PA. [8] Members of the Board of Trustees include a mix of Bethlehem community members and Laros Family members, including Laura Bennett Shelton, grand daughter-in-law of Russell K. Laros and wife of Laros grandson, the late Peter Laros Shelton (17), and Russell Keller Laros III.
Nylon is a family of synthetic polymers with amide backbones, usually linking aliphatic or semi-aromatic groups.
Lingerie is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments, sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fashionable, or both. In a 2015 US survey, 75% of women reported having worn "sexy lingerie" in their lifetime.
Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781, making it the second-largest city in the Lehigh Valley after Allentown and the seventh-largest city in the state. Among its total population as of 2020, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19,343 were in Lehigh County. The city is located along the Lehigh River, a 109-mile-long (175 km) tributary of the Delaware River.
A skin-tight garment is a garment that is held to the skin usually by elastic tension using some type of stretch fabric. Commercial stretch fabrics ('elastomerics') such as spandex or elastane came onto the market in 1962, and revolutionized many areas of the clothing industry. A wide variety of clothing may be made to be skin-tight, and it is common for clothing to be skin-tight for some uses, such as in stockings, bodystockings, swimsuits and women's bras.
Stockings are close-fitting, variously elastic garments covering the leg from the foot up to the knee or possibly part or all of the thigh. Stockings vary in color, design, and transparency. Today, stockings are primarily worn for fashion and aesthetics, usually in association with mid-length or short skirts.
Pantyhose, sometimes also called sheer tights, are close-fitting legwear covering the wearer's body from the waist to the toes. Pantyhose first appeared on store shelves in 1959 for the advertisement of new design panties as a convenient alternative to stockings and/or control panties which, in turn, replaced girdles.
Synthetic fibers or synthetic fibres are fibers made by humans through chemical synthesis, as opposed to natural fibers that are directly derived from living organisms, such as plants or fur from animals. They are the result of extensive research by scientists to replicate naturally occurring animal and plant fibers. In general, synthetic fibers are created by extruding fiber-forming materials through spinnerets, forming a fiber. These are called synthetic or artificial fibers. The word polymer comes from a Greek prefix "poly" which means "many" and suffix "mer" which means "single units"..
A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic materials, such as polyester, nylon, and polypropylene. Ribbon is used for useful, ornamental, and symbolic purposes. Cultures around the world use ribbon in their hair, around the body, and as ornament on non-human animals, buildings, and packaging. Some popular fabrics used to make ribbons are satin, organza, sheer, silk, velvet, and grosgrain.
The Lehigh Valley is a geographic and metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh and Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bounded to its north by Blue Mountain, to its south by South Mountain, to its west by Lebanon Valley, and to its east by the Delaware River and Warren County, New Jersey. The Lehigh Valley is about 40 miles (64 km) long and 20 miles (32 km) wide. The Lehigh Valley's largest city is Allentown, the third-largest city in Pennsylvania and the county seat of Lehigh County, with a population of 125,845 residents as of the 2020 census.
The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry.
Ninon is a lightweight, sheer fabric made with plain or leno weaving, it is a suitable material for curtains, evening wear and lingerie. Ninon is made with variety of filament yarns such as polyester, silk, rayon or nylon.
Burlington Industries, formerly Burlington Mills, is a diversified American fabric maker based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Founded by J. Spencer Love in Burlington, North Carolina in 1923, the company has operations in the United States, Mexico, and India and a global manufacturing and product development network based in Hong Kong with over 8,000 employees on several sites in the United States, Canada and worldwide.
Laura Eugenia Bennett is an American architect and fashion designer and one of the four finalists on Bravo's July 2006's Project Runway.
The manufacture of textiles is one of the oldest of human technologies. To make textiles, the first requirement is a source of fiber from which a yarn can be made, primarily by spinning. The yarn is processed by knitting or weaving, which turns yarn into cloth. The machine used for weaving is the loom. For decoration, the process of colouring yarn or the finished material is dyeing. For more information of the various steps, see textile manufacturing.
Gentex Corporation is a privately held company that focuses on the manufacture of United States and international military, special forces, commercial, law enforcement, emergency medical services and first responder personal protective equipment products, as well as aluminized fabrics, Lifetex fabrics, Clearweld, Filtron, and Precision Polymer Processors.
A silk mill is a factory that makes silk for garments using a process called silk throwing. Traditionally, silk mills were concentrated in Japan, England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Italy and Switzerland.
The Lehigh Valley Silk Mills were a collection of mills located in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Textile stabilization is a conservation method for fiber and yarn-based cloth intended to mitigate damage, prevent degradation and preserve structural integrity. Stabilization is part of a broad set of techniques in the field of conservation and restoration of textiles typically undertaken by a specialist or textile conservator. Appropriate treatment is determined through risk assessment and close examination of a textile's characteristics and the nature of the damage. Organic and synthetic fibers become weak due to age, handling, and environmental exposure and display physical deterioration such as fraying, planar distortion, loss, and change in surface character. Treatment involves reinforcing tensile strength and reintegration of parts for aesthetic, functional, and historic preservation. Methods can include stitching, darning, reweaving, and the attachment of supports through overlays and underlays. Hand-sewing follows the mantra of “gently does it” using fine needles, supple yarns, and a light touch. Heavily damaged and fragile fabrics often require stabilization through adhesive consolidation, though this is less common. It is essential that conservators consider physical and chemical compatibility along with future treatability in choosing a stabilization technique.
The National Museum of Industrial History, abbreviated NMIH, housed in the former facility of Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is a museum affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution that seeks to preserve, educate, and display the industrial history of the nation. It holds a collection of artifacts from the textile, steel and iron, and propane gas industries.
Thea Tewi was a German-born American sculptor known for her work in stone. During the 1940s she was also a successful fashion designer who was proclaimed America's top lingerie designer in 1947.