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IS Jewish News
On The Rise: Israel's
Fashion Industry
BY DONNA SCHATZ
T
he look is layered, loose and
flowing. Israel, at least in
summer, is a country of heat
and sun, and the clothes seen
on the street and sent overseas reflect
the scenes and atmosphere of the Pro-
mised Land. Israeli designers, under
the influence of climate and a casual
lifestyle, are transforming international
modes into uniquely Israeli styles.
Their clothes are selling, both at
home and abroad, and the fashion in-
dustry, which in the early 1980's suf-
fered a slump in foreign demand for
ready-made goods, is, since early
1984, seeing a reversal in international
trends. Business is up. Of the slightly
more than $1 billion of ready-to-wear
clothes produced in Israel annually, 35
percent are exported; in the first half of
1984, the season for bulk summer buy-
ing, sales of bathing suits were up 19.5
percent, trousers and pants increased
19.2 percent and woven wear reached
10 percent.
Gottex
Israeli bathing suits have always held
their own in the world fashion market
and Gottex Models Ltd. of Israel has
capitalized well on the Middle East's
hot Mediterranean summers. The big-
gest fashion house in Israel, Gottex ex-
ports to 62 countries. Its annual foreign
sales for last year topped $10 million,
half of which was from the United
States. Although prices are steep (a
Gottex maillot can cost you $80), the
suit is also a big seller in Israel.
Gottex started its enterprise 30 years
ago. It was a humble beginning: churn-
ing out raincoats on a single sewing
machine. But Lea Gottlieb, who came
to Israel from Hungary after World War
II, soon realized bathing suits would be
a more practical product than rainwear.
She made the switch to summertime
and the business took off: Gottex now
employs more than 650 people, has
two production plants, and a seven-
story warehouse in Tel Aviv for cutting
and distribution.
It's a family operation, and Lea
Gottlieb, with the help of her husband
and two daughters, is clearly the
woman at the helm. She's Gottex's
main designer and the prints and styles
that put the bathing suit on the interna-
tional fashion map — as well as on
queens of Europe and in the windows
of Fifth Avenue — originate in Gottlieb's
head. Cover-ups are Gottlieb's innova-
tion and the fabric isn't limited to the
lycra of the maillots. She uses, among
other things, chintz, cotton, fishnet and
silk.
Inspired, it seems, by whatever she
sees, Gottlieb goes to Italy to work out
her ideas in a textile factory in Como.
She brings back to Israel bolts of finely-
separated colors and myriad motifs
which, in Tel Aviv, she turns into the
swimwear that has put Israeli fashion
on the world map.
Glima
The Glima factory, which started with
one sewing machine in a small store-
front near the Machane Yehuda market
in Jerusalem eight years ago, only uses
Israeli cotton for its clothes. Designer
Esti Zisman says the fabric, which
Glima dyes into bolts of bold colors and
sews into loose, comfortable women's
clothes, suits her vision well: "I want the
colors to match the atmosphere of
Israel in summer—its sun, beaches and
red mountains." And, to match the
A "glimot," or craftan,
made by the Israeli
fashion design firm of
Glima. The folkloric
siikscreened designs are
inspired by oriental rugs,
Yemenite jewelry and
Hanukkiot.