Discover Germany | Special Theme | MEDICA & COMPAMED 2017
Left: This picture from the 1960s shows much has happened at medi. Right: The manufacturer of health products with headquarters in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth.
Feel better – with medi medi is one of the leading manufacturers of a comprehensive range of supply concepts and medical aids such as compression stockings, supports, orthoses and orthopaedic insoles to name but a few. With over 65 years of experience, medi is an established international player exporting in over 90 countries and maintains a wide global network of own branches and distributors. But back in the day it all started with Wolfgang Weihermüller risking his freedom when he crossed the border from East Germany to the West.
elastic medical mediven stocking. In 1975, WeCo already manufactured the compression stockings in an appealing transparent design. This synergy between health and aesthetics turned into the solid base for developing the products, which would become internationally successful - made by these health pioneers in Bavaria.
TEXT: MARILENA STRACKE I PHOTOS: WWW.MEDI.DE
What would you take with you if you were to break free from the chains of East Germany? For medi-founder Wolfgang Weihermüller, it was an easy yet unusual choice. During a night in 1951, he crossed the inner-German border near Rudolphstein with a backpack full of parts of a valuable knitting machine. In crossing the green border Weihermüller risked going to jail for many years, but he successfully made it to Bayreuth. He brought his knowledge gained at his parental hosiery and corsetry manufactory back in Saxon Pausa to West Germany. Over 88 | Issue 56 | November 2017
there, Weihermüller founded the company WeCo together with his cousin Günter Voigtmann. They did not have much seed capital to begin with: only three knitting machines and the knowledge of how to knit with elastic bands. But it turned out that this was all they needed to start their production of medical stockings in a former ballroom.
In 1982, Weihermüller’s sons took on the US market and opened their first international branch over there and the company has been expanding further ever since. Today the family business is run in the third generation. It goes without saying that today medi’s craftsmanship has evolved from its traditional roots to smart hightech products using top modern production facilities and innovative materials.
Back then, the motto was to question existing methods and that is still the pillar of today’s mission at medi. Following that credo, WeCo revolutionised the compression therapy with the first seamless highly
Whether customers suffer from back pain, a torn ligament during a gym session, skewed, sunken or splayed feet or slow-healing wounds that often come with diabetes, the products and therapy