Koala Body Fashion, Aalten

Koala Body Fashion

Industriestraat 15, Aalten (no longer extant)

Formerly Koala Tricotagefabriek, manufacturer of underwear.

The Algemeen Dagblad wrote on 15 March 1989:

FROM JANSEN & TILANUS TO KOALA BODY FASHION

Koala Body Fashion is the new name of the manufacturer of the underwear and nightwear brand Jansen & Tilanus. This operating company of the Textielgroep Twente holds a 10 per cent share of the Dutch market. Koala — formerly Koala Tricotagefabriek — hopes that with this change of name, the company’s upward trend will continue.

In 1987, profits rose by 10 per cent compared to the previous year. Although managing director H. ter Balkt does not expect this percentage to have been achieved in 1988, there is once again talk of substantial growth. He cites responding as quickly as possible to consumer desires as the most important prerequisite for this.

Because nightwear and underwear have increasingly become an essential part of fashion in recent years, they are subject to new trends, rages, and developments. “An increasing portion of turnover is determined by products that did not exist six months earlier. In such a situation, you cannot work with long delivery times,” says Ter Balkt.

In honour of its 70th anniversary, Koala Body Fashion is the first company in the Netherlands to deposit ƒ1,000 into a fund established by the Enschede University of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool Enschede). This fund is intended to enable the international exchange of lecturers and students in the field of textiles in the future. Koala is making an identical amount available for the best graduation project at the Higher Technical School for the Garment Industry (HTS voor de Konfektie Industrie) in Amsterdam.

And Het Parool wrote on 1 September 1995:

Textile company moves to Asia

Textielgroep Twenthe is going to move its garment manufacturing activities to Southeast Asia. Other activities may also disappear from the Netherlands in the course of the year. Due to persistent losses, further reorganisations are not ruled out. In the first half of this year, the textile group suffered a loss of 4.5 million guilders.

Seventy people work at Koala Body Fashion in Aalten. The garment workshop is the main cause of the persistent losses.

According to a statement from the company, relocation is inevitable from the point of view of reducing cost prices and increasing flexibility. Efforts are being made to find a new location in Southeast Asia.

A social plan has been drawn up for the forty staff members who will be made redundant. Approximately thirty people will remain in Aalten. They will focus on the manufacture of highly fashion-sensitive products for which a short delivery time is necessary.