Gyula Heitler, born in Bratislava in 1912, learnt from a young age how to buy and sell in his parents’ general store. Arriving from Europe in 1947, Gyula changed his name to John J Hilton and worked for his sponsor Alexander ‘Gigi’ Schwarz at Olympia Fashions, a dress shop in Pitt Street. Then, together with his elder brother Emil, he started a business manufacturing ladies knitwear.
Adopting the trading name, John J Hilton, they looked around for Australian creative-fashion opportunities and decided to focus on women in their mid-twenties and older, offering them elegant and durable dresses at a fair price. The business grew to 100 employees, with showrooms around Australia and representatives in Paris, New York and London.
John J Hilton was one of the first to export Australian fashion to Japan, as well as to Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada and United States. A pioneer in the use of wool in women’s dresses, John J Hilton was the recipient of fashion awards, including the Australian Wool Award. The resulting goodwill attached to the John J Hilton brand name meant that garments were still available for purchase well into the 1990s.
- Writers:
-
Jenni Hagedorn
- Date written:
- 2012
- Last updated:
- 2013
