Ad Campaign – 1958 Bathing Caps

Blossom out in flattering flowering Swim Caps by Kleinerts.  Cap your curls in these beauties and never worry your head about waves!  Hair stays dry for sure…

Look at the wonderful new things that have happened to swim caps.  Fabulous new textures… beautiful new designs… an array of colors to set the beach ablaze with a never before kind of swim cap flattery.

Two different ads with two different approaches to selling swim caps, but note how both use the word flatter, and both have cap-covered heads sticking out of the water.  Both ads appeared in the June, 1958 editions of American magazines.

A Bit More from Kleinert’s

I was filing away the Kleinert’s swim accessories folder today and ran across these two things I’d completely forgotten about.   The card about was attached to a rubber band that attached to the inside waistband of a skirt or of pants, and it gripped the blouse and kept it neat!

This one I have shown before, over a year ago, but could not resist a re-run.   It is the hangtag from a Kleinert’s Olympic Sava-wave Watertight Cap.  Guaranteed when worn as instructed inside:

Yes, I do collect hangtags.  I love the little bits of information they contain, and the fact that often so much thought went into them.  Never throw away a vintage hangtag.  Send it to me; I promise to give it a good home.

Kleinert’s Incomparable Bathing Togs

With accessories like these, it’s no wonder I can’t limit myself to just clothing!  Featured today is a 1930s sales brochure from Kleinert’s,  a maker of rubber items.

Kleinert’s was started in 1869 as I.B. Kleinert’s Rubber Company .  The owner,  Isaak Kleinert, started the company to produce his many inventions, all consisting at least in part of rubber.   The company’s fortune seems to have been made on the dress shield, little rubber crescents, covered with cotton, that were basted into the underarms of one’s frocks.  In the days before anti-perspirants, these little shields saved many dresses from ruin, and many misses from embarrassment!  I’ve found many vintage dresses with the dress shields still in place.

But Kleinert’s was not just about dress shields.  According to the Kleinert’s website, Isaak Kleinert also invented the shower cap, rubber baby pants, and the shower curtain.  For many years they also made rubber swim accessories, such as bathing caps, shoes and totes.  They even produced a limited line of swimsuits.  I’ve seen Kleinert’s ads for rubber-lined swim caps as early as the 1910s, and they were made at least into the 1960s.  But by the 1970s, the swim cap was old-fashioned, and rarely worn except by grandmas and competitive swimmers.

This business is still in operation, still making shields and other moisture protection products.  And, quite nicely, still made in the USA.