MUD-PROOF STOCKINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3755, 2 March 1926, Page 9

MUD-PROOF STOCKINGS.

A LONDON ANNOUNCEMENT. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, January 12. By the end of this week Mr C. J. Moreton expects to have all his machinery fitted for his waterproof factory at Wimbledon. The company known as "Waterproof, Limited,” is applying for the right to use the New Zealand fern leaf as a trade mark and "Moana Prooflt” as a trade name. Up to the present Mr Moreton has not sought publicity, but this week the Daily Express announces the arrival of the mudproof stocking, which the journal maintains will thrill every woman who has suffered from that bane of modern life, the mud-bespattered ankle, which is the inevitable accompaniment of every shower. "Millions of stockings," says the Express, "have been made unsightly by their mud splashes during this week of Incessant rains. The neat and dainty allken ankles which tripped forth In the morning have beoome by lunch time a humiliation to their owners and an eyesore to all as the mud-spot fiends worked their fell Batik designs,

“A gallant New Zealand chemist is responsible for the effort to bring science to the rescue of the unhappy victims of mud. While women railed and wailed at the tragedy of the muddy stockings, were lured into the Russian boot, and even contemplated a return to the long skirts of their mothers' day, he conducted his experiments and mads his tests in the muddy streets of London." Stockings, real silk, artificial silk, or Lisle thread, are declared to be rendered nonsplashable and rainproof by means of the new proofing process he has patented, a process which is now being carried out in a London factory. The process has been put to the practical test for a year (it is said). Women wave worn stockings so treated on the muddiest days, and have escaped the splashes that so disfigure the ordinary stocking. The mud cannot cling. It simply falls off and leaves no stain. Once proofed, the stockings remain proofed, and are washed in the ordinary way when they are ready for the laundress. Special stockings are not necessary; a woman simply sends her own stockings to be proofed. Wearers of the proofed stockings, which are, by the way, perfectly hygienic, escape damp feet as well as mud spots. The new process is applied to other gar* ments; the cost in the case of stockings le 9d a pair.