When I told fashion designer Dalya Bar Or that I remember my grandfather wearing Ata clothes, she laughs. "Everyone remembers a grandfather or uncle wearing Ata," she says. "The moment the topic is mentioned, that's what people say."

Bar Or, both a designer and a historian of fashion, wrote her doctoral dissertation on "Ata and Israeli society, 1934-1986," which has naturally occasioned hearing this excited response from Israelis many times. In its time, Ata had a mythical and symbolic status in Israel, though the grand Zionist textile factory closed its gates 30 years ago. Its unique status is now bringing Ata back to life, as Itay Yaacov, a fashion correspondent for the XNet website, documented eight months ago.

The Ata label was acquired by publicist and businessman Shahar Segal, and last month its official revival was announced with the opening of a store on Allenby Street in Tel Aviv, adjoining the urban triangle marking the hipster lifeline of the city. The location is no coincidence, and symbolizes the essential difference between the new label and what Ata once was. Passersby can now get newly excited at seeing the famous logo — a blue triangle with the word Ata, proudly raised above the store.

"Ata made its mark because it was planned as an aggregate concern, a company that creates an item from the thread to a finished product," explains Bar Or. "People thought it was a government factory, and [Israel's first Prime Minister] David Ben-Gurion helped popularize this notion by wearing the concern's clothes. If he wears it, the workers will wear it."