Dederon—the nylon of the East. In no other garment has the GDR’s synthetic fiber been so culturally immortalized as in the smock apron. The Gebrüder Pfau textile factory in Crimmitschau recently celebrated this iconic garment with a “Lab coat Day”—and invited all visitors to show up wearing a stylish lab coat.
Yet this garment, which became so popular in the GDR, was actually an invention of the U.S. fashion industry—that is, the GDR’s class enemy—as museum director Birte Hemeier explains. As an accessory for housewives in the 1950s, the apron was available there in numerous colors and patterns.
According to the museum director, the Gebrüder Pfau textile factory is the best-preserved textile factory in Europe, featuring machinery dating from 1894 through the 1970s, all preserved at its original location. However, the Dederon fabric used for GDR lab coats was not manufactured here.
Instead, the practical apron was the favorite garment among female textile workers. For this reason, the museum has long offered visitors the opportunity to borrow a work apron for their tour of the exhibition. “At the castle, you dress up as a princess; here, you dress up as a textile worker,” jokes the museum director.
