Sexy enough already
There is more to Damart than thermal underwear. As the Bingleybased pioneering clothing brand launches its new collections, Stephanie Smith finds out its past, present and future.
WHENEVER there is a cold snap, sales of Damart thermal undergarments shoot up, especially in France. “People don’t say, ‘are you wearing a thermal vest?’ In France, they’ll go, ‘are you wearing your Damarts?’” says Alyson Taggart, director of product at Damart’s UK division, which is based in Bingley.
Here, at the Grade II-listed Bowling Green Mills on Lime Street, she and her team decide which Damart products are right for the UK market. Catalogues are created to showcase the selected ranges of underwear, womenswear, menswear, sleepwear, footwear and home furnishings. There are also marketing, e-commerce, customer services and HR departments – a total of around 600 staff, with the warehousing operation down the road in Steeton.
Damart is a French company and its international head office is at Roubaix, near Lille in northern France, close to the Belgian border. It was named after Rue Dammartin, the street where it was founded in 1953 by Joseph, Paul and Jules Despature. The brothers already had a fabrics business there when they hit on the idea of making underwear using Chlorofibre, a synthetic spun and woven into soft fabrics with inbuilt wicking and isothermic properties. They launched Thermolactyl as a material to give warmth without bulk.
Paul’s son, Paul Georges Despature, is still involved with the business, having taken over management when his father and uncles retired, then becoming chairman and representing the shareholders, of which most were family. Since 2018, his son Jean Guillaume has been chairman, with Patrick Seghin chief executive officer.
Around 1960, Damart expanded to West Yorkshire, choosing an area already steeped in clothing manufacturing expertise and heritage. Alyson, who has a degree in French and is originally from Airdrie in Scotland, has worked in Bingley for almost eight years. Before that, she lived in Australia for four years where she was buying manager of young leisure brand Cotton:On, and she has also worked for K-Mart, New Look and other fashion brands.
“It’s all about the customer, not what age they are,” she says. “Damart is well established in France and has many retail outlets, the same in Belgium, whereas in the UK, the brand is mainly known for mail order. A key priority in the UK is awareness.
“The main difference in France and Belgium is that the customers there will pay more. And we are a lot more casual. We don’t wear suits any more whereas, in France and Belgium, they still have the traditional trouser suit or skirt and jacket.
“Also, the UK customer, we have found, she’s a bit more bold in her