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The history of the important fashion brand El Dique Flotante, created in 1899 on Cambios Viejos street on the corner of Pla de Palau, is associated with Joaquín Beleta Mir. He was the owner and founder, who opened a tailoring store to be run by his cousin Ramón Beleta, a tailor by trade.
The good work carried out by Ramón in the making of his garments means that little by little his reputation as a good tailor spreads among the Barcelona bourgeoisie, who travel to the Ribera neighborhood to concession his suits, much cheaper than those in the establishments. From the center of the city.
Joaquín, seeing the fame that his cousin had achieved, then thought about expanding the business and opening a store in a more central area of Barcelona.
The euphoria that was unleashed on the occasion of the 1929 Universal Exhibition was the trigger for Joaquín to make the decision to build a nascent empire in the clothing industry. He looked for a place in the center that was already beginning to be one of the favorites of Barcelona merchants.
The place was none other than Avenida de la Puerta del Ángel (Portal de l'Àngel), at number 9, corner with Canuda street. There, Joaquin decided to set up what would initially be a fashion empire for years.
Joaquín Beleta contacted the architect Santiago Marco to build him a building in which he could develop all his imagination. The decoration project was designed by the decorator Antoni Badrinas i Escudé who, with his design, won the first prize from Barcelona City Council in the interior design category.
El Dique Flotante opened the first men's tailoring store on April 1, 1930. It was dedicated only to men's tailoring, including children's clothing, and specialized in sailor suits, which were very common for dressing children for their first communion. .
Soon it also included the sale of fabrics (retail in fabrics), not only for men's suits, but also fabrics dedicated to women's clothing. This opened the field of dressmaking to him.
His refined line of sportswear that he introduced in his workshops favored his definitive emergence in the world of women's haute couture.
The fame achieved by the firm led to other stores being opened on Paseo de Gracia, 21, on the corner of Diputación and, later, on the same Paseo de Gracia number 103 on the corner of Calle Rosellón. After the Civil War ended in 1939, the Floating Dock reopened its stores again.
Subsequently, the Floating Dock, together with Santa Eulalia, Manuel Pertegaz, Carmen Mir, Pedro Rovira i Planas and Pedro Rodríguez, founded the Haute Couture Cooperative in Barcelona in 1940, which would represent Spain from 1941 with its designs of a collectively in modeling shows both in the country and abroad.
Pedro Rodríguez was a founding partner and president from its creation until his death. In the 1960s, Pertegaz left the group.
The creators of the El Dique Flotante collections were the brothers Francisco and Ricardo Beleta, who had the collaboration of other designers.
To stand out from the other couturiers, the Beleta brothers decided to create a fabric factory in Sabadell, with the name Beltex ("Bel" for Beleta and "tex" for textile), with this they achieved two things: the first, to expand their business range and the second, to stand out from its competitors by creating a series of fabrics for the exclusive use of its designs.
In 1965, on the occasion of the exhibition held in New York between 1964-1965, El Dique Flotante participated together with Pedro Rodríguez and Santa Eulalia in the presentation of Barcelona Haute Couture.
When the 70s arrived, the competition prevailing at that time in the clothing industry, which had adapted to the new patterning systems to lower production costs, decided to opt for ready-to-wear in order to compete in prices with other firms. .
The Portal de l'Àngel store closed in 1968, the others lasted until 1988. The Floating Dock was a name inseparable from the history of quality haute couture in Barcelona in the 20th century.
