Jantzen diving girl logo

Maker Jantzen (American, founded 1910)

Date1920-1960

Object number00001809

NameLogo

MediumCotton

DimensionsOverall: 130 x 283 mm

ClassificationsClothing and personal items

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Jayne Liu

Terms

DescriptionThis cotton cloth badge has been screen printed with an early 1920s Jantzen diving girl logo. Since the 1920s the logo has featured on swimwear, bill boards, catalogues, posters and other advertising media. It has been updated to reflect changes in swimwear fashion, while remaining instantly recognisable as the Jantzen trademark.HistoryThe diving girl logo was developed by Russell H Tandy, and first appeared in a Jantzen swimwear catalogue in 1920. The following year Jantzen launched an advertising campaign using the diving girl on decals which became popular as windscreen stickers. The logo was first used on swimwear in 1923 and featured in a national advertising campaign in the United States along with the slogan 'The Suit That Changed Bathing to Swimming'. This campaign saw the first use of the term 'swimming suit’. Modernised by illustrators Frank and Florenz Clark in 1928, by 1931 the diving girl logo was the seventh most recognised logo in the United States. The 1920s diving girl wore a red and white striped swimsuit with stockings and a red cap with a white pom-pom. By the 1930s she had become more streamlined and wore a briefer swimsuit and plain red cap. In 1948 she was redrawn wearing a strapless swimsuit and was revised again in 1980.SignificanceThis badge was produced by Jantzen Australia at their Lidcombe factory in Sydney, and is representative of the company's branding during the 1920s.