During the 1940s Lindsay & Co began using Buffalo Bill as their registered trademark, tapping into the boom in television westerns such as Annie Oakley, Rawhide and Bonanza. Many of the western costumes were manufactured under licence from the large motion picture companies including Walt Disney and Warner Brothers in the United States. The Lindsays pioneered these licensing agreements in Australia and the introduction of television in Australia in 1956 opened the way for Lindsay’s to make the most of the influx of American television programmes. Lindsay costumes enabled children to become their favourite superhero or character from ‘Spiderman’ to ‘Mickey Mouse’, and ‘Zorro’ to ‘The Flying Nun’. Children could be Roy Rogers, Smokey Dawson or Elly May from The Beverley Hillbillies.

During the mid-twentieth century the Annie Oakley television show popularised the quintessential cowgirl’s costume. So many little girls wanted to dress up as Annie, being smart, independent, competitive and stylish and symbolising law and order she was the perfect role model for Australian girls. Beginning with the Annie Oakley costume range, Lindsay & Co continued to develop costumes with special appeal to girls including Batgirl, Wonder Woman and nurses outfits.

AL Lindsay & Co are an iconic Australian company that produced a wide range of children’s toys and costumes from the 1930’s through to the present. Initially, they produced ‘Cowboy and Indian’ costumes and a range of calico tents. Lindsay & Co extended the reach of the company into a greatly expanded post-war market developing costumes with a special appeal to girls. Outfits were routinely devised for both boys and girls: cowboys and cowgirls; Indian braves and squaws; Batman and Batgirl; Tarzan and Jane; doctors and nurses; Robin Hood and Maid Marion; and Superman and Wonder Woman.

During the Second World War all non-essential industries were put on hold, Lindsay & Co were closed for five months but were successful in their appeal for a special dispensation to continue business. Albert Lindsay was given a permit to reopen provided he only employed people not covered by manpower regulations (ie. widows, people over the age of 65 or disabled workers). Albert’s philosophy was that he was doing war service by providing toys for the children of men and women who were fighting.

All members of the Lindsay family have been instrumental in delivering a diverse range of childrens' costumes. In the beginning, Albert Lindsay made feather dusters from turkey feathers, he was then inspired to make Indian head dresses with the left over feathers.In the 1950s, with the popularisation of Davey Crocket, Albert’s son Philip sourced hundreds of fox tails to make the famous ‘racoon skin’ hats. And the inspiration for the Nurses costume came to Hilarie and Philip Lindsay one day whilst watching their young daughters playing in the garden with handkerchiefs on their heads, pretending to be nurses.