Station: [8] The Corsetry Industry

M: May we? Addressing the ladies here. Would you mind – if we inquire what you're wearing ... foundation-wise? Perhaps the brand with the little crown, Triumph? The corsetry industry played an important role in Mögglingen.

F: In 1886, Gottfried Spiesshofer and Michael Braun had established a corset factory in the neighbouring village of Heubach. They started with six sewing machines and the same number of employees. Business was booming – and just four years later, 150 people were working at "Spiesshofer und Braun".

M: In 1902, the two gentlemen registered the Triumph brand. Shortly afterwards, the word "international" was added. A small sewing room was also set up in Mögglingen, initially in the Pädagogium on Bahnhofstrasse. In 1910, the company moved to a specially designed factory building on Lauterstrasse.

F: Sewing and ironing – that was women's work. And in this case, women's work in the best sense. Because "Spiesshofer und Braun" enabled many women to take up an occupation and make money – and no farm work was involved. At times, up to 370 women were employed in Mögglingen. They were from the village and the surrounding area.

M: In the early days, the company was still making classic corsets. In the 1920s, they started producing bras, and in the 1950s, new materials like Nylon and Perlon captured the market. In the late 1960s, Triumph International's had a roughly 50 percent share of the overall German market for foundation garments. But then Germany's importance as a manufacturing location began to decline. By 1975, the Mögglingen factory had reached the end of the line and was shut down.

F: But "Spiesshofer und Braun" weren't the only business making foundation garments in Mögglingen. In 1896 Jakob Allgöwer and Jakob Erbe also established a company. But by the late 1920s, the business had run into financial difficulties. At that point, the Stuttgart manufacturer Gottlieb Scheuing stepped in and took over. After the Second World War, Scheuing was employing some 200 people in Mögglingen alone, most of them women. The factory building stood on today's Bahnhofstrasse, opposite the Kreissparkasse – the local savings bank.  
 
Fotos: © Jürgen Bahnmayer