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Our Story
Lurex® adds brilliance and creativity to enhance innovation and design. We are continuously researching new materials and technologies to help designers to create new concepts and effects in fabrics and garments in a environmentally sustainable and socially ethical way. We want our yarns to inspire fashion.
OUR STORY
Founded in 1946 and purchased by the Franco-British Sildorex group in the 1970s, Lurex® wishes to share its heritage and exceptional know-how. Still being manufactured in factories located in Europe (England, France, and Belgium) and also in Far East (Japan, Taiwan and China), Lurex® is the story of an exceptional metallic thread that has revolutionized the use of brilliance in fashion. Its Gold and Silver threads became light and supple embracing the liberation of the feminine silhouette, creating an endless source of inspiration for the great post-war designers (Dior, Yves St Laurent, Balenciaga, Courrèges, Givenchy …).
“Lurex® threads are yarns made for designers with the purpose to add a new brilliance to fashion in a sustainable way.”
Bringing the vibrancy of its threads to the finest creations of haute couture and fashion, Lurex® continues to innovate, combining exquisite fibres and materials and establishing itself as a symbol of brilliance with numerous innovative techniques not only to make softer and finer threads offering a richer palette of colors and effects but also in a more sustainable end eco-friendly way.
It is indeed a rich history, “crafted in gold thread”, which has created a Lurex® brand recognized all over the world. In ancient times craftsmen in Asia developed a technique to wrap pure gold leaf around silken threads and these threads became a symbol of wealth and power in ancient China and then in the great empires of Egypt, India, Persia, and Rome. During the Renaissance period these golden threads were used to embellish furnishings and decorative trims and at the end of the 19th and the turn of the 20th centuries French Haute Couturiers, like Chanel and Lanvin, adopted these golden threads to bring brilliance to their latest creations.
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The Origin of Gold thread
Fine metallised textiles have traditionally been associated with precious metals, in particular gold. Being one of the first discovered metals, gold was originally associated with worshipping the sun and has retained the association in myth, magic and religious culture.
The Silk Road
Threads of gold were bound around a silk core by technology developed in China, the origin of precious textiles. Chinese textile products of gold and silk travelled from East to West through the famous Silk Road.
Bonding Gold and Silver in medieval Europe
In 16th century Germany, silver gilt wire was made into fine thread by ‘wire drawing’ suitable for lace. Wider availability of this technology gave aristocrats of early modern Europe opportunity to lavishly use precious metallised textiles in their dress and furnishing.
Metallic Yarn in Fashion
With the development of fashion in the seventeenth century France emerged as the European leader. French textile artists and designers, like their predecessors in the Italian Renaissance, used gold and silver yarns to produce fabric of exquisite refinement.
Japanese Ornamental textiles
In the Meiji era Kyoto became famous for ornamental textile with exquisite embroideries, dyed-cut velvets and tapestry. Developed for kimono, Japanese embroidery was adapted to Western and Asian taste for wall hangings, screens and panels to be admired.
Traditional Hand Craft Techniques
Through the 19th and 20th centuries, societies and cultures of Europe, Africa, Middle East, India and Asia, retained traditional hand craft techniques for embellished folk and courtly costume passing this heritage to a new generation of designers
Haute Couture and Lamé
Haute Couture of the 19th century was the notable aesthetic reaction to industrialization in the history of costume. Designer Poiret’s fashion revolution was based on the lamé look made possible by combining French gold and silver laminette with silk.
Hollywood Glamour
The early 20th century saw Hollywood gain a vast audience which penetrated the social demand for fashionable clothing much more effectively than any previous form of media or entertainment. In the process contributing to the glamourisation of fashion.
Lurex® – Technology and Innovation
Created in 1946, Lurex® thread would revolutionize the metallic yarn industry, bringing together key breakthroughs in applied science – vacuum and polymer technology. Due to significant savings in heavy metal consumption Gold and Silver threads became light and supple.
Lurex® – Liberation of the feminine silhouette
Thanks to Lurex® technology, Gold and Silver threads embraced the liberation of the feminine silhouette, creating an endless source of inspiration for the great post-war designers (Dior, Yves St Laurent, Balenciaga, Courrèges, Givenchy).
Lurex® – Youth Culture and Ready to Wear
London’s 1950s youth and RTW design met on the iconic Kings Road in Mary Quant’s Bazaar Boutique. By 1962 Jean Shrimpton wearing Quant (the great English protagonist of Lurex® in fashion) adorned the cover of the Sunday Times Magazine.
Lurex® on the Dance Floor
Dance influence in the use of metallic fabrics has always been considerable. With Lurex®, the wearing of lamé cocktail and dance dresses was no longer for the social elite but for everyone to dress in and enjoy party and night life.
Lurex® Colorful and Fancy
The resurgence of Lurex® in fashion is very much associated with the importance of the creativity of new fashion designers especially in Italy. The range and variety of Lurex® visuals, displaying a richer colour palette and effects allows huge scope for design.
Lurex® softness and seduction
Thanks to innovation and technology Lurex® has developed a range of very fine metallic yarns giving softness and seduction to lingerie and hosiery. The age of harsh metallic yarn has definitely ended giving new options for creativity to Intimates Designers.
Lurex® Sustainable Fashion
The Lurex® Brand is committed to reducing environmental impact by using sustainable components in its yarns. Designers can keep the heritage of gold and silver thread alongside a range of fashion colors creating sustainable fashion with Lurex® yarns.
OUR MAISON LUREX
Having witnessed its threads being used on the catwalks of the designers’ shows in: Paris, London, Milan and New York for more than 80 years, LUREX® has been pleased to announce in 2017 the launch of Maison Lurex®.
In tribute to the creativity of its clients and the greatest designers in French and Italian Haute Couture (Valentino, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Armani, Christian Lacroix, Gianni Versace, Karl Lagerfeld …), Maison Lurex® is reinventing its exceptional thread with its own collection of prêt-à-porter, jewelry and fashion accessories (shawls, scarves, fine leather bags, cushions …).
