Art Knitting Mills, Ltd

Art Knitting Mills was a Montreal-based manufacturer of women’s sweaters and swimwear, founded by Ruben B. Cohen and David W. Cohen. Over the course of the company’s 33 years in business, its headquarters were located first on St. Lawrence Boulevard and subsequently on St. Paul Street West. During the early 1960s, Ruben Cohen served as president of the National Associated Women’s Wear Bureau and was owner and president of associated knitwear firm Tee Pee Mills Ltd., which was in business briefly between 1964 and 1965.

Art Knitting Mills held Canadian licences for American brand-name knitwear, including designer Robby Len’s beach garments and Tish-U-Knit’s ‘Black Rose’ sweaters. In 1953, Art Knitting was named as the Canadian patent owner for the Marksway ‘Safety Swim Suit’ made from Ventile®, a tightly woven water-repellant cotton fabric originally used by the British military. Art Knitting manufactured and sold a fashionable version of the women’s ‘Safety Swim Suit’ across Canada.

In 1960, Canadian ski champion Anne Heggtveit’s fashion ski sweaters sponsored by DuPont Orlon were also manufactured in Montreal by Art Knitting Mills under the brand name ‘Art Knit.’

Ruben Cohen died in 1964 and by the following year, Art Knitting Mills was out of business.