About Bonnie Doon

A COLOURFUL HISTORY

1957 Alex Lee Wallau launched his playful, colourful and fashionable Bonnie Doon brand in America in 1957. The brand name for this fashion for legs originates in Scotland. 'Bonnie' is the Scottish word for beautiful and 'Doon' the name of a river in Ayrshire, in the south west of Scotland. With his new brand founder Wallau introduced to the American market a strong combination of quality and fashion at a reasonable price.

1969 Robert Puper became the Dutch agent for Bonnie Doon in 1969 and for the first time the Netherlands was introduced to the quality of this brand. By 1970 the American importing venture proved successful enough for Robert Puper to set up his own company, which launched the fashionable American leg wear brand onto the Netherland's market. Storage space was at the top of the new company's priority list. Garage space in Austerlitz, a small provincial town in the Utrecht region, was quickly found. Orders for Bonnie Doon's fashionable leg wear were made up and delivered from this small storeroom base.

The seventies The seventies saw knee socks become a real fashion. European sock manufacturers however produced only a limited range of colours, in contrast to their American colleagues. In addition to its extensive colour palette, Bonnie Doon utilised orlon in its rough-knit product range, a super soft acrylic material that came in for a lot of praise at the time. The innovative and colourful orlon knee socks make a positive contribution towards the Bonnie Doon brand establishing a name for itself in Europe. This was reflected in their catchphrase at the time: "Bonnie Doon, the highest name in knee-hi's".

The eighties The eighties heralded in the period of the high dollar, forcing Bonnie Doon to relocate an important part of its range elsewhere. In addition, to safeguard Bonnie Doon's success the company decided to start up its own line. A design department was set up with this objective in mind, ensuring that the new leg wear collection acquired its own unique style and look. To enhance the brand and make it more recognizable, the by now familiar Bonnie Doon dog logo was featured more prominently on the product labels. These important company changes shaped the beginnings of Bonnie Doon Europe.

The nineties Increased turnover in the nineties resulted from the success of Pan-European exports. By then, Bonnie Doon was often at the cutting edge of many a new rage, such as the craze for leg warmers, toe socks, spats and over-the-knees. In addition to keeping a finger on the pulse of the latest trends, the Bonnie Doon basic collection was extended to meet the changing needs of the consumer. A new warehouse was built in Waardenburg in the province of Gelderland to house our extended range of socks, knee socks and tights for women, men, kids and babies.

The present Since its 1969 introduction onto the Dutch market, Bonnie Doon has become a successful total concept. The brand's extensive collection is available in leg wear specialist shops, children's clothes stores and department stores. Bonnie Doon is also making its mark in other countries. In France the brand saw the opening of it's first Bonnie Doon boutique in Strasbourg in 2007.

The future Specialisation is one of Bonnie Doon's strong points. The brand intends to continue focusing on fashionable leg wear and other related products in the future. In addition to its broad basic collection, Bonnie Doon presents a completely new and fresh seasonal collection two times a year. In the years to come, Bonnie Doon hopes among other things to increase its market share in the field of men's leg wear fashion. In addition, a greater number of sales outlets are envisaged whereby Bonnie Doon will concentrate on increasing its sales figures within Europe.