‘Mary Quant came on the scene and shook fashion’
THE launch of an exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum about fashion legend Mary Quant sparked fond memories for retired marketing man Norman Satinoff.
Norman, from Cheadle, tells the Stockport Express about his experience of working alongside the fashion legend - and the crucial role a Stockport business played in propelling one of her most iconic designs to success.
Mary Quant’s iconic and instantly recognisable designs defined the ‘Swinging’ Sixties.
More than 50 years since the legendary designer turned the fashion industry on its head, her enduring legacy means that any woman with a mini skirt, skinny rib top or Peter Pan collared dress in her wardrobe has Quant to thank.
When Quant launched her first ever range of PVC raincoats in 1963, they were an enormous hit with fashion buyers and even earned the designer her first magazine cover for British Vogue.
But a production difficulty with sealing PVC seams led to a delay in launching the product onto the high street. That was until Quant joined forces with Stockportbased Alligator Rainwear.
The firm devised a way to work with the material, allowing them to be produced in large numbers.
It led to an explosion in popularity for the striking waterproofs, which came in a range of styles and vivid colours and were priced at £10 each.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, the long established brand was one of the leading companies in the country for rainwear.
Working in marketing, advertising and sales for Alligator, Norman had a front row seat for the exciting venture.
“Manchester was the centre of the rainwear industry in those days,” says Norman, now 76.
“At the time, Alligator had a mill in Ancoats and one in Stockport. It was one of the foremost fashion companies at the time. It was a competitive industry, so to compete, in addition to the homegrown designers who were based in Stockport, they used Pierre Balmain and Pierre Cardin.
“Men were the main designers, but things changed when Mary Quant came on the scene and in her own innovative way, shook the whole fashion industry.
“It was decided it would make sense to form a link with her. She was the ‘in’ designer - she was the Beatles of fashion at the time. Because she was so pioneering, she came out with a fabric but we’d never used PVC.
“It was quite a challenge to us and we had to get our machines geared up for that.”
The new collaboration required the firm to reach a new audience of fashion-conscious young women, and led to a different approach advertising.
Norman said: “We advertised nationally, but it was decided to do something quite unusual, to advertise fashion rain wear in the London Underground, along the escalators and on the boardings behind the tracks. Our advertising agency was always based in London and they pushed the idea, because London attracted so many people from abroad.
“So for a while, instead of going in all the national magazines, we went down the tube.”
Norman was invited to join Mary and her team in New York to help promote her garments in its to American buyers.
He said: “I was quite young at the time so it was an exciting adventure. I met Mary Quant and we flew to New York with her team. She always stayed, and showed to buyers, at the Algonquin Hotel, a 1930s Noel Coward-type hotel, that is still going strong today. She was literally the talk of the town.”
Norman says that despite Mary’s growing status as a fashion heavyweight, she was incredibly modest about her success.
By the late 1970s, Alligator closed down after more than two decades in Stockport. The site, near Portwood roundabout, was eventually redeveloped into a Tesco.