Fogal: the Swiss hosiery house of designer collaborations

Before Fogal, a good pair of stockings in Zurich was something you ordered from a craftsman and then waited for. Léon Fogal, the son of a Swiss sock maker, had an idea that seems obvious now: a shop devoted entirely to hosiery, with stockings ready to take home. Then he had another, even more modern one: mending them on the spot. A century later the brand sells fishnets studded with 15,000 crystals and has made capsules with Dries Van Noten, but that twin instinct, convenience and longevity, still runs through its story.

As with many heritage houses, the founding date depends on what you count. Fogal dates itself to 1921, the year also given on its current owner's website, and it celebrated its centenary in 2021. The timeline on its official website, however, places the opening of the first boutique in Zurich in 1923, and in 2007 its then communications director told WWD the company had been created in Zurich in 1923. 1921 is the brand's date; 1923 is the first documented shop.

Success, Fogal says, was instant, and more boutiques soon followed across Switzerland. The concept was simple but new: stockings as a ready-to-buy product in a dedicated shop, rather than a made-to-order commission from a craftsman.

Mending rather than binning

In 1925 came the innovation that looks most striking today: an in-store repair service, using a special machine for darning silk and, later, nylon stockings. Customers brought in laddered pairs and, according to the brand, had them back within minutes. Fogal describes itself as the first brand to offer it.

In 1939, again according to the official timeline, Léon Fogal imported the first nylon stockings into Europe. Elsewhere the same page says Fogal brought "nylons" to Switzerland in the 1940s, and Lingerie Briefs writes that he was the first to import them into Switzerland: either way, Fogal was among the very first to bring the new fibre to its market. Seamless stockings, knitted in a single piece, followed in 1950, and tights in 1960, with the bold opaque colours and patterns the brand still regards as a signature. Fogal also credits itself with leading the worldwide craze for colourful tights in the 1960s.

From Zurich to Madison Avenue

When Léon Fogal died in 1968, ownership passed to the Zurich banking family of Walter Meier. There were six Swiss shops. In 1970 came the first knee-highs and, in 1971, the first cashmere and silk tights, early evidence, the brand says, of its focus on natural materials.

Then expansion. From 1982 Fogal opened in New York, Paris, London, Munich, Hong Kong and Tokyo. In 2007 WWD reported 25 years in the US, a boutique at 115 Madison Avenue, a second on the way at 611, and 22 freestanding stores worldwide. Lingerie had arrived in the 1980s as a cotton line called In Addition, designed to coordinate with the hosiery; by 2007 it had grown to include a transparent Lycra group called Nude, described as "a second skin", and the products were also sold at Barneys and Bloomingdale's. In 1985 designer Lilo Nido created tights with no central seam and an integrated lace thong; in 2000 came "second skin" bodywear.

Artists before designers

The taste for collaboration arrived early, and through art rather than fashion. In 1974 Fogal worked with the British artist Allen Jones, who painted façades at the Basel and Zurich railway stations. In the 1990s its shopping bags became collector's items: the illustrator Jean Robert designed one in 1992, and in 2007 WWD announced another by the artist Madeleine Berkhemer. In 2013 came cinema: for The Great Gatsby Fogal created ballroom socks and "Charleston tights", a natural fit for a house born in the very decade Fitzgerald wrote about.

The centenary and the designer capsules

In 2017 Fogal was acquired by Margaux and Edouard Burrus. In 2018 the brand introduced tights in alternative fibres: ramie, kapok, hemp, banana, citrus bark and bamboo. With the centenary, fashion collaborations became strategy, and the trade press was generous: FashionNetwork called Fogal "the nec-plus-ultra of legwear". As FashionNetwork reported in 2021, Fogal lined up three capsules for Autumn/Winter 2021-22 with Dries Van Noten, Ulla Johnson and Zadig & Voltaire, in organic and recycled fibres. The Van Noten link was already there: the Belgian designer had shown multicoloured Fogal tights in one of his shows.

That same season the swimmer Yannick Agnel, 200-metre freestyle gold medallist at London 2012, delved into the archives to create leggings with two thin white side stripes, meant to raise awareness of equity between women's and men's sporting performance, while creative director Jean-Luc Amsler designed a technical gym line. Margaux Burrus spelled out the aim:

"We are positioning Fogal as part of a new ready-to-wear designed for all times of the day, from the yoga room to afterwork, and including the home office." (Margaux Burrus, to FashionNetwork, 2021)

In other words: Fogal as a wardrobe for the whole day, not just a stocking.

Fogal today

Since April 2023 Fogal has belonged to ChimHaeres Investment Holding, a company organised under the laws of the Abu Dhabi Global Market that also owns Borsalino, Vionnet and Zagato. The brand speaks of a new chapter focused on restoring it to iconic status.

The product, according to a profile published by Lingerie Briefs in July 2026, stays true to noble fibres: yarns are Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certified, there are opaque tights with 95 per cent silk, every piece is heat-shaped on boards, and the finest styles go through two separate quality inspections. Toes are closed with a smooth flat seam or a near-invisible hand-linked finish. Prices start at 53 dollars and rise to 1,257 for the Marilyn fishnets, with 15,000 hand-applied crystals. Hello! Fashion calls it a "heritage brand" whose range runs "from sturdy basics to statement pattern pieces", with limited-edition collaborations "with the labels of the moment". Its pick is the Pois tight, which fuses "an ultra-fine diamond pattern with elegant polka dots".

Today's range spans whisper-light sheers, fine fishnets and velvety opaques to bright colours, lurex and leopard motifs, and extends to activewear, bodywear and shapewear knitted with the same techniques. The latest campaign, Femme Fogal – The Art of Becoming, photographed by Anoush Abrar and styled by Boutique Annabelle, is about a woman who keeps reinventing herself: a graceful way of saying the brand, under new ownership, is looking for its next shape too.

How to choose a Fogal

• Check the percentage. Lingerie Briefs points out that many so-called cashmere tights contain only a small share of it: read the composition before paying for the noble fibre.
• Look at the toe. A flat or hand-linked seam is the one you won't feel inside your shoe.
• Match the fibre to the season. Wool and cashmere for winter, silk and cotton for the shoulder seasons.
• Watch for the capsules. Limited editions come out in small runs.
• Care for them like clothing. Hand wash and dry flat.

Almost a century ago, you could take a laddered stocking into a Fogal shop and walk out with it good as new. Now that tights have become disposable, it is the most modern idea the brand ever had.