Pilot Fashions, ladieswear designers and wholesalers : fashion sketches and press cutting albums

Albums containing advertisements and press cuttings for Pilot Waterproof Co. Ltd and Pilot Fashions and photographs of fashion displays at trade fairs (1940 - 1962); album sketches of dresses and maternity wear, with annotations and fabric samples attached (1950s).

Ernest Sanger (1904-1963) was born Ernst Saenger in Charlottenburg, Berlin. He remained in Germany until 1938 when conditions under Nazi government forced him to emigrate to London. In 1944 he married Kathe Gotthilf (1914-1995), also an émigré from Germany. He founded the company Pilot Waterproof Co. Ltd, makers of novelty waterproofs, located at 55 - 57 Newman Street, London, ca. 1939. The firm later moved to 84 Newman Street, London and was renamed Pilot Fashions, specialising in women's clothing and maternity wear. Pilot Fashions products were exhibited at trade fairs and were sold through department stores in London, such as Fenwick, Harrods and Peter Robinson as well as in major stores in Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge and Leicester.

This archive collection is available for consultation in the V&A Study Rooms by appointment only. Full details of access arrangements may be found here: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/archives/.

Access to some of the material may be restricted. These restrictions are noted in the catalogue where relevant.

Given by Robert Sanger, 1995.

Cataloguing supported by the American Friends of the V&A through the generosity of The David Berg Foundation, New York.

Information on copying and commercial reproduction may be found here: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/archives/.