Wollsdorf Leather is the global market leader in premium leather products for a wide range of applications. Philip Yorke looks back at the history of a blue-chip company that sets the standards for the industry and continues to expand its product portfolio and increase its presence worldwide.
LEADING IN LEATHER
FOR 80 YEARS T
he Schmidt family has been producing leather in Austria for at least five generations, beginning with its founder Alexander Schmidt in 1936. Today the company is the number one manufacturer of premium leather products in the world. Wollsdorf remained a privately-owned family run company and, following a consistent period of growth, it constructed Europe’s most modern leather factory at Wollsdorf in 1970. Since then the company has seen strong global expansion with additional facilities being established in the USA, Australia, Croatia, Hong Kong and China. All leather produced at Wollsdorf is processed in the high-tech cutting and sewing facilities the company operates in Varazadin, Croatia and Fuzhou, China. Today Wollsdorf manufactures premium leather products for a wide range of applications in the automotive, upholstery, avionics, marine and railway sectors, as well as producing leather for broad range of special applications.
190 Industry Europe