"Charmose stands for: Superior workmanship in Ladies' Lingerie and Hosiery... finest materials, of course."
Charmose Inc was located at Lincoln and Tanner Avenues in Hatboro, Pennsylvania. A small town in a bygone era. True to the time, Charmose was and continued to be a family operation. The founder, Otto Miller immigrated to America from Oberlungwitz, Germany with his wife and five children in 1925. By the 1930's he went from building sewing machines to running his own hosiery mill. Charmose produced fine quality ladies' lingerie and hosiery.
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| From 1940's Charmose catalogue |
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| Fabric swatches still attached! |
A Post-War Revival
After WWII, Otto's son Lothar came home from the fighting in Europe. He had been a lieutenant in the United States Army with the 10th Armored Division, a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge. Lothar came home to his wife and child and began to expand not only his family, but Charmose Inc. He created the line of Daddy's Girl dresses and acquired additional space, adding to the bungalow that Charmose originally operated out of.
A Family Affair
Throughout the 50's and 60's, Charmose remained a family business. Lothar's daughters Marlo and Janice modeled the dresses for Daddy's Girl, his brothers George and John assisted in operations, his sisters Charlotte and Marianne sold sample dresses and "seconds" (dresses with imperfections) on Friday mornings in the bungalow, and Lothar's sons Kurt and Duane helped with sweeping, and packing dresses for shipping. By the age of ten Kurt was sewing, fixing machines and working in the shipping department. By thirteen he worked more hours than most adults in the cutting room and was pricing and ordering samples by sixteen. His industrious nature continued to flourish and hasn't slowed one bit to this day.
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Janice modeling a Daddy's Girl dress
1958 (the 72 on the bottom indicates photo #) |
Charmose Inc remained in business until 1969. By then, a majority of manufacturing was moving down south, or out of country where production was less expensive.
