About AltiMed – Compression Hosiery Products

Our History

AltiMed’s history begins in 1928 when a specialist manufacturer of narrow fabrics was founded in Shepshed, Leicestershire. Throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s, the company, called Parema Ltd, became a major supplier of narrow fabrics to the garment industry, supplying well known customers like Marks and Spencer and Sara Lee Corporation.

In the early 1990s, Parema developed the now familiar ‘K’ range of compression and retention bandages – K-Band, K-Lite, K-Plus, K-Four. After successfully marketing these brands for 10 years, Parema sold this part of the business to Urgo Medical, who continue to manufacture and market the ‘K’ range in the UK today.

Meanwhile, Parema continued to develop its narrow fabric range, producing a range of compression garments under the name of AltiMed. The range was developed following extensive research of the prescription compression hosiery market and by understanding the specific needs of both patient and clinician within the area.

By the late 2000s, the AltiMed compression hosiery range included British Standard hosiery for post-VLU treatment (Altiform), hosiery kits for the treatment of VLU (Altipress) and European Class garments used for Lymphoedema and Chronic Oedema.

In 2010, AltiMed was also acquired by Urgo Medical, adding the compression hosiery range to the already successful bandage range purchased 10 years previously. AltiMed remains in the Urgo portfolio today and the hosiery is still British made in the factory in Shepshed, Leicestershire.