Sportex: “The Cloth for Champions – The Champion of Cloths”: Dormeuil’s game changing fabric

FULL DESCRIPTION & PRICE: Sportex

[House of Dormeuil promotional brochures for Sportex fabric].

4 brochures (42.5 x 30 cm & 32 x 13 cm). In sheets, cover in embossed paper imitating leather and “Sportex” mark in relief. [Paris, c.1930]. A total of 9 large prints and a brochure.

The three large portfolios, each with three different prints, are luxuriously presented in color plates signed Chale and F. W. Cox (16.75 in. x 11.8 in. and one at 16.5 in. x 9.25 in.). The textured paper portfolio cover features the brand’s logo embossed with its motto “The Cloth for Champions – The Champion of Cloths” and the coat of arms of the house of Dormeuil. The fourth brochure, slight smaller, is a “moveable advertisement,” with flaps that allow different suiting combinations for 3 jackets and 3 trousers. Some edge wear to the portfolio wrappers and some light tanning to a few of the plates, otherwise near fine.

A group of promotional brochures for Sportex fabrics, presenting different men’s suits in fabrics from the renowned House of Dormeuil, a firm founded in 1842. In 1922, Pierre Dormeuil, a third-generation member of this family firm, invented the special wool-based Sportex fabric. This superior quality cloth, both durable and breathable, was marketed as ideal for sports and leisure wear and tremendously popular with outdoor enthusiasts and gentlemen athletes, especially golfers. Dormeuil continues today as a leading producer of luxury fabrics for men’s suits, including Sportex.