About The Zimbabwe Hosiery Company
Our Brands
BERKSHIRE was established in 1967 and offers a range of ladies hosiery and socks suited for everyday wear. The brand is recognised for good quality at affordable prices.
CAMEO offers a range of classic sheer and opaque hosiery for all occasions. The products are known for exceptional quality and distinction.
ROSALEE is the Company’s mutton cloth and cleaning rags brand in the industrial wholesale and retail markets. The brand has maintained its position amongst the market leaders in the cleaning rags category.



Company History
The Zimbabwe Hosiery Company was started in 1967 to manufacture ladies pantihose and was known as Berkshire International (Zimbabwe) (Pvt.) Ltd.
In 1992, after a group re-organisation, The Zimbabwe Hosiery Company (Private) Limited was formed, which took over the company assets from Berkshire International (Zimbabwe) (Private) Limited. The Zimbabwe Hosiery Company (Private) Limited became a leader in the industry and continues to manufacture pantihose mainly for the Zimbabwean market. The company also exports globally.
The company expanded its operations in circular knitting production by purchasing mutton cloth and bandage knitting machines from Rosalee Textiles (Private) Limited in 1998.
The first sock knitting machines were purchased in 2001 and the company has continued to purchase additional sock knitting machinery to expand its production of socks.
The Zimbabwe Hosiery Company Products
Ladies Hosiery Division
This division manufactures ladies pantihose and knee-highs under the following brand names:
BERKSHIRE – basic everyday wear nylon pantihose with cotton gusset and nylon knee-highs
CAMEO – nylon and elastane pantihose with cotton gusset and knee-highs
ESCORT – nylon and elastane pantihose with no gusset
LEGWEAR – factory shop range of pantihose
The factory has a large number of knitting machines, which can produce in excess of 3000 pairs of pantihose daily.
The knitting yarns, dyes, and machinery spares are imported.

Socks Division
This division mainly produces school socks for boys and girls. Other lines are men’s cotton and nylon socks as well as field socks for hockey, rugby, soccer, and heavy-duty work socks. From time to time, the company imports design socks and sports socks for adults and children, which assists in offering a wider range of sock products to the market.
This department has a number of modern single and double cylinder sock knitting machines and has the capacity to produce in excess of 4000 pairs of socks daily.
The main raw material used is cotton yarn, which is available locally and constitutes approximately 70% of the yarn composition of the sock. Nylon, spandex and polyester yarns are imported as well as the dyes and spares.
Most of the socks manufactured are sold under the BERKSHIRE brand. The AMICI brand has recently been introduced into the market as a budget line for school socks.
Mutton Cloth Division
This department produces mutton cloth and multi-purpose cloth under the ROSALEE brand name. Mutton cloth is also supplied under the in-house brand names for the main retail supermarkets in Zimbabwe.
The department also manufactures tubidress and perlon medical bandages.
The modern knitting machines in this department have the capacity to produce in excess of 1200kg of mutton cloth daily. The bandage machines are able to produce more than 100kg a day.
The only raw material used is cotton yarn, which is procured locally. The spares for the machinery are imported.

About Hosiery
Hosiery – is a collective word for all types of stockings and socks of any kind that are used to cover feet and legs.
Denier – is a unit of measure in the yarn world and refers to the thickness of the yarn used in the manufacture of tights. The higher the denier, the thicker the tights will be.
Sheer Tights – have a yarn denier lower than 20 and are available in matt or shine, in a range of colours to match a variety of skin tones.