Leading in leather for 80 years Wollsdorf

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

The 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.

Growing global demand

With the growing global demand for high quality leather products, particularly in the automotive industry, Wollsdorf maintains an extensive stock of leather in order to meet peaks in demand and market fluctuations. The company has enough premium leather in reserve to cover approximately ten weeks’ manufacturing, which means it can always guarantee availability to its customers.

Wollsdorf’s main automotive leather product is its leather steering wheel, and over 140,000 leather steering wheel sets are supplied to its clients every week, making Wollsdorf the clear market leader in this sector. However, steering wheel leather is only one of a range of automotive leather products the company offers for seats, head-rests, arm rests and door trims. The sale of automotive leathers accounts for over 70 per cent of turnover. A further 20 per cent is generated from sales of its leather to the furniture industry. Here Wollsdorf targets premium furniture brands in Europe and the US.

Another fast growing global market is the aviation industry. This is partly due to the quality and luxury feel of the product but also increasingly, because leather seats last more than twice as long as fabrics or imitation leather seats. Therefore the higher initial costs are easily offset by the longer lifespan of leather.

Unique leather solutions

Wollsdorf’s unparalelled experience and reputation for creating unique solutions in leather are as diverse as its customers. As a globally recognised tier-one supplier of high-quality leather for the aviation industry, it is able to meet the latest technical and legislative requirements of the industry. Many complex challenges are resolved by working in close partnership with its clients to provide the optimal outcome. The company operates a fully integrated tannery, from selecting the raw hide to producing high quality finished leather products. Wollsdorf also has its own in-house laboratories and R&D departments that are able to develop new products for the automotive and aviation industries, as well as for furniture companies and special applications.

Thanks to its comprehensive new product development facilities, Wollsdorf recently created a lightweight leather for aircraft seats called Amba Eco. These leather seats are manufactured using an environ-

mentally friendly tanning process that does not require the use of chromium. This lightweight leather was used recently to cover 35,000 economy class aircraft seats of a leading global airline. Another key feature of Amba Eco is its SPS finish, which prevents leather from soiling, thereby significantly extending seat-cleaning intervals.

Focus on the environment

Wollsdorf has a strong commitment to protecting the environment and supports the many environmental regulations that are in place today. Over the last few years the company has reduced its water consumption used in its hide processing plants by over 30 per cent, and it also continues to improve the efficiency of its waste water treatment plants.

Furthermore, Wollsdorf recently introduced a production plant that will convert animal fat into biodiesel. Every year the company needs to deal with about 10,000 tonnes of animal fat and until now it has been disposing of it as a waste product. However, today the company extracts over 1000 tonnes of clean fat, which its new plant can convert into a quantity of biodiesel which is equivalent to half its own annual energy requirements.

Wollsdorf is also helping to protect the environment through the development of its own environmentally friendly products. The company’s latest lightweight leather seats have been designed specifically for aircraft seating in partnership with its long-term business associate Schauenburg. This new product offers weight savings of more than 40 per cent over traditional leather aviation seating. The new ‘Styrian’ lightweight leather from Wollsdorf offers weight savings of around 3kg per seat, which means big fuel savings in a 250 seat plane. n

For further details of Wollsdorf’s innovative premium leather products and services visit: www.wollsdorf.com