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This film is part of Free

For Sheer Perfection

A mile of yarn and a million loops to make one stocking: the culmination of a four hundred year old craft.

Documentary 1965 24 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for Media Archive for Central England

Overview

The finest flattery of all' is the proud boast of Aristoc for their range of knitted stockings produced at their Langley Mill factory. Whether the wearer is at the dancehall or just crossing the road 'unvarying pleasure' is promised. Seamed fully fashioned nylons and their more modern cousin the seamless stocking, introduced by the firm in 1959, fly off the production lines; the nimble fingers and watchful eyes of the packers more than a match for the fastest machines.

Aristoc later centred its stocking production on a factory at Belper with the Langley Mill works being demolished in 2002.