How a harness maker became a leading player in sun protection

Camiel Myngheer was born in Staden as the son of a contractor, but his love was for horses. So he became a harness maker. Camiel was 19 when he arrived in Vlamertinge in 1899. He had then just been apprenticed to a harness maker for five years. Each harness was custom-made for the horse.

‍

Inn In the Garter

Camiel rented a small building where he installed his work store. In the early 1900s he married Hortensia Ampe, they had 5 children.

During World War I, the family fled to Watou. Camiel kept an inn open there where English soldiers and officers came to rest behind the front. He sold everything they could use: booze, cigarettes, fountain pens, stationery, paternosters and so on. The soldiers came during the day, after 10 p.m. the officers drank there champagne. 

In 1919, Camiel returned to Vlamertinge. He found "the platse" half shot to pieces. After he rebuilt his harness shop, Camiel and Hortensia also kept an inn open again. During the week he saw few people in his café, but thanks to his young daughters Irma and Laura, the café was popular on weekends. After Hortensia's death, Inn In de Gareelmakerij also disappeared.

‍

Circus tents and tarps

In 1928, Irma (far right in photo) married André Kestelyn. They did not find work in the Westhoek and moved to France, where André worked as a farmer on neglected farms.

To ease the work, they sent their two oldest children to live with their grandparents in Vlamertinge. Marie-Thérèse was seven and Daniel four. Camiel could use some help and so Daniel stayed in Vlamertinge during WWII. After school, everything revolved around learning the stile.

In 1951, a circus tent had to be made for the first time. A few years later, the attic and stables were converted into a spacious workshop. They served for more than 50 years as a workshop where tarpaulins, canopies and awnings were made. First for stores and pubs, later also for individuals. In 1959, Daniel married Hilda Aernout, descendant of the third generation of tailors Aernout in Vlamertinge.
‍

Camiel Myngheer founder of the rigging and sailmaking business taught the craft to his son Gerard Myngheer who continued it until 1972. In this year, Daniel Kestelyn (cousin of Gerard Myngheer) and his wife Hilda Aernout took over and expanded the sailmaking business. In addition to making tarpaulins for trucks, awnings and garden furniture were added.
‍

‍Multiplemoves】.

When son Ludwig entered the family business in 1985, he saw more of a future in sun protection, especially for verandas. The company expanded. Kestelyn Sunprotection NV was founded to develop and manufacture sun protection systems.

Because of lack of space, the company moved several times. First from Poperingseweg to Vanloot's warehouses in Vlamertinge. Later to its own building in Hoge Akker. Today, the Sunconfex Group - as the company is now called - is located at two sites: in the old Expo Halls in Ypres and in Leipheim, Germany. It employs more than 100 people. Sunconfex processes more than 2 million square meters of sun protection fabric for the European market.

‍

Although yarns have long ceased to be made at Sunconfex, the company would not have existed without progenitor Camiel's love of horses and entrepreneurial spirit.

‍

‍

‍

^{Based on a publication of Heemkring Flambertus Vlamertinge
Year 2021/3 number 43
Written by Jean-Pierre Deroo and narrated by Daniël Kestelyn
Final editing/editing: Sunconfex Group}