Bikini Originator Will Close Down
The firm that sprung the bikini swimsuit on an unsuspecting world 42 years ago is closing down--a victim of changing fashions and cold economic reality.
The Reard company, whose founder Louis Reard invented the daring two-piece and spent a fortune defending its trademark, said Monday that it will file for protection under bankruptcy laws.
First unveiled on June 3, 1946, the costume was named after the Pacific atoll of Bikini where the world’s first peacetime nuclear test had just taken place. It had a similarly explosive effect.
Although it dominated magazine covers that summer, it took years for the bikini to be acceptable to polite bathing society.
Reard, a former automobile engineer, died four years ago at age 87.
A Reard spokeswoman said two bad seasons, which had seen a move toward slinky one-piece swimsuits, and a backlog of debts meant the company would file for bankruptcy at the end of the week.
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