Shipping to:
Pantherella's Heritage
Pantherella was born in 1937 in Leicester, England, a city in the East Midlands now known for its football club (2015-16 Premier League Champions), being the final resting place of Richard III, and the largest Diwali festival outside India. Louis Goldschmidt founded Pantherella in a factory on Hallaton Street and the city is still our home to this day. Throughout the nearly 100 years of designing, innovating and manufacturing, we have developed a rich and storied history.
Founding Pantherella: Why Leicester?
Leicester city historically had a strong association with the production of textiles, clothing and shoes. In the 19th century, Leicester became well-known for its expertise in the hosiery industry. By the early 20th century, Leicester's garment industry had expanded exponentially, with the June 1938 issue of the Leicester and County Chamber of Commerce Monthly proclaiming 'Leicester Clothes the World'. The city was now home to many smaller, nimble factories, making it the ideal place for Louis Goldschmidt to found his company and develop his innovative products.
Founding Pantherella: Why Leicester?
Leicester city has historically had a strong association with the production of textiles, clothing and shoes. In the 19th century, Leicester became well-known for its expertise in the hosiery industry. By the early 20th century, Leicester's garment industry had expanded exponentially, with the June 1938 issue of the Leicester and County Chamber of Commerce Monthly proclaiming 'Leicester Clothes the World<'. The city was now home to many smaller, nimble factories, making it the ideal place for Louis Goldschmidt to found his company and develop his innovative products.
Pantherella - Established 1937
Pantherella first opened its doors in 1937 and began trading as Midlands Hosiery Mills, an established women's hosiery factory. Fast forward to 1945 and our name was changed and a legend was born: Pantherella Fine English Socks began trading.
Innovation and Pioneers
The maverick behind Pantherella was Louis Goldschmidt; he had a vision that fine gauge English socks were the future. Tired of producing bulky, bland, uncomfortable socks for men, he believed that lightweight, seamless, fancy socks would be in high demand. After careful persuasion, Goldschmidt convinced local machine makers P.A. Bentley to produce a specialist sock machine. The demand for lightweight men's dress socks was significant. By the time the competitors cottoned on to Goldschmidt’s innovative design plans he had already set the industry standard, leaving the competition in the shadows. Pantherella were renowned for creating the world's finest socks.
Left: Workers loading knitting machines. Centre: The original Pantherella factory. Right: Workers performing finishing processes and quality control
Pantherella Goes Global
Over his time in the industry, Goldschmidt had developed an admirable list of contacts, enabling him to export his products within Europe. It was during the 1940s that he began exporting to North America, followed by Australia in later years. Pantherella's exports grew to huge numbers, on average 75% of production. Pantherella was a storming success the world over, fostering new legions of fans from all walks of life, including royalty and celebrities.
Pantherella and Picasso
One such celebrity endorsement came to us by surpise. In 2012, we were fortunate enough to receive a mysterious email referring to Pablo Picasso. Attached were images of an envelope with the address of Picasso's home in Mougins, France and a pair of Pantherella socks. The socks featured two small embroidered letter 'P's on them, presumably referencing the artist's own initials, marking his Pantherella socks as his own. The classic Pantherella logo was still recognisable on the footbed of the sock. Taking inspiration from the painter, we developed the Hadley silk and cashmere socks, featuring a subtle embroidered 'P'.
Modern History: Inside the Factory
In more recent history, to commemorate our longstanding heritage and firm impact on English textile innovation, our Pantherella factory in Leicester was featured in the BBC TV Programme “Inside the Factory”, to unearth the expert and highly specialised skills that Pantherella invest into each and every sock. The episode was broadcast on BBC Two in January 2021, but is no longer available online. Our production took place behind our famous blue door up until 2024, and our offices are still based there. Our current production takes place in Italy, renowned globally for luxury fashion and innovation, with expert quality inspection and the same high-quality yarn that we have used since 1937.
Explore the links below to learn more about Pantherella's heritage and accomplishments. The articles have been updated to reflect our current practices.