Hello! I’m currently documenting my collection and today uncovered a little piece of Australian fashion history. A simple pair of 1950s shorts, made with a ‘magnificent’ synthetic fabric developed by local fashion powerhouse, David Finkel in the mid ’50s: Curlon!

Mr Finkel was a Polish holocaust survivor who came out to Australia in 1946. Already experienced in textile mills through working in his father’s factory in Kossów, he opened ‘Finlaw Mills’ in the early ’50s, and started to produce fibres out of the new synthetic materials, in Collingwood, Abbotsford and Richmond.

Curlon was said to be ‘shrinkless, stretchless and crease-free’: the easy-care you want from a synthetic fibre, and had the advantage of also being available at a low price point. Having handled it, I can report that it has a tweed-style slubby texture running through the weave: you can see it in the photo above.

Finlaw Mills fabrics were sold to other companies here and overseas, as well as being made up into garments under the ‘Finlaw of Melbourne’ brand.

Here are some adverts I found from 1956 and 1957: it looks like they produced a lot of knitwear.

I found this advert – and an existing garment on Etsy! – from 1956. Photo credit to MrsPeacockGoesToTown.

Curlon wasn’t the only fibre Finlaw produced: others included trademarked ‘Ban-Lon’, ‘Crispolene’ and ‘T-Lon’, as well as nylon knits like this licorice-allsort of a swimsuit.

Here’s another pair of shorts from my collection: all are ‘deadstock’ which is to say, new and unworn. They were part of a stash that came from a house demolition: they had been stored in the attic. Not ideal. I bought about 3,000 pieces, many still with original tags and price tags attached. There were quite a few Finlaws so I’m hopeful of finding more as I unpack boxes.

Mr Finkel died in 1974 but the company continued under his family, and produced knitted garments (many very bright colours and stunning prints – check out ebay if you’d like to see some) into the 1990s. Curlon seems to have been a passing fad though, as it’s been almost forgotten by the world, and very few garments remain.

These everyday garments can be hard to find, especially in good condition as they were the sort of things that made up (still make up) the bulk of a woman’s daily wardrobe and were worn and worn out, so rarely survive, unlike special occasion wear.

You don’t usually see them on display in museums but they tell stories of ordinary people and the lives they lived, so I’m glad they’re increasingly being valued and recognised for their significance.