Triumph International - History

History

1886: When Triumph's founders launched their corsetry business from a barn in Heubach (Württemberg) in 1886, they had startup funds of 2000 gold marks and employed 6 staff. As a comparison, the company today has annual sales exceeding 2.2 billion Swiss Franks and employs over 36,500 staff all over the world. At the same time as Paris couturier Charles Frederic Worth was the first man to "enhance" the female form with padding, the two founders of Triumph were setting up their operations in a barn.

1894: Their sharp business acumen brought them an important breakthrough—an order for corsetry from strait-laced England.

1900: In the first years of the century, constricting whalebone undergarments underwent a certain degree of relaxation; corsets moved downwards, so to speak, to become girdles. Women, and European women in particular, were positively electrified by the influence of new fashions such as the tango, and began to dress and deport themselves in ways that brought out their personalities. As Triumph flourished, new generations brought youthful energy and élan into the business.

1930: In the 1930s, Triumph advanced to the status of Europe's largest corsetry manufacturer—an excellent reason to celebrate the company's 50th birthday in 1936.

1933: After almost 50 years of near-uninterrupted growth, checked only by the First World War, 1933 saw the foundations laid for the company's later international expansion when the company opened its first international branch in Zurzach, Switzerland. Today, the same premises house the corporate financial headquarters and other central corporate departments.