Made in Belgium
From producer of caps to fashion brand: the history of Zilton

“Our passion for fashion has been around for over a century”, says Paul Declercq, CEO of Belgian fashion brand Zilton.
This is a major exception in the world of fashion which is governed chiefly by short-term trends.

Zilton history

Paul Declercq: “My great-grandparents started making caps in 1898 and following the death of my great-grandfather in 1917, production was taken over by his wife and two sons. Demand rose so much that in 1926 they decided to open a factory in Ardooie. In 1930, ‘City Sport’ designs were launched and my father Daniel and his cousin Godfried, the third generation, managed the factory.

During the war, production was at a low level but after the war there was an enormous boom.

The sixties were more difficult because the hippies weren’t really into caps; they preferred ribbons in their hair. (laughs)

On the pretext of: “Not everyone wears a cap, but does wear trousers”, my father started producing trousers in 1973 as well as caps. The highest quality, a perfect fit and reliability came first and foremost. A number of years later my brother and I took over the business and in 1995 we launched ourselves under the name ‘Zilton’. From then on, things moved quickly and we soon had a full clothing collection, trousers combined with blazers, coats, knitwear, shirts, scarves, belts.“

Zilton Over onsThe family business’ many years of experience in terms of materials, wear comfort, patterns and cuts, combined with the young and dynamic input of our current team have made Zilton a unique and strong Belgian brand. A solid and successful shop-in-shop concept has been developed to propose Zilton’s craftmanship in full to our fashionable customer.”

All of this has not escaped the eye of our neighbours in France and Holland. You’ll find the collection in many quality standard multibrand shops.

Following the new trend, men dress up more, so you can expect even more creativity from us. Don’t hesitate to visit our newest website – http://www.zilton.com – to keep up with our latest offers and fashion trends!