Wolford (A)
During its 60-year company history, Wolford has established itself as a luxury brand in the premium sector of the international fashion world.
The Wolford brand has been registered as a protected trade mark since 1950.
A year before this, the industrialist Reinhold Wolff from Vorarlberg and the retail entrepreneur Walter Palmers from Vienna had already founded the company Wolff & Co. KG in Bregenz, Lake Constance. With its own dye works and moulding shop, the company started manufacturing nylon stockings in the same year that nylon was first introduced to Europe. During the coming six decades, the company developed from a leg- and bodywear provider to an internationally acclaimed premium brand with a product portfolio covering your wardrobe from head to toe. Core areas are the well-established product groups of legwear, ready-to-wear and lingerie. Swimwear made from high-quality
materials as well as textile accessories and belts that draw attention through exciting details also form part of the range. By the 1980s, Wolford was already implementing the ideas of international designers who caused a furore on the catwalks with their creations. In the mid-1990s, the first design cooperation began, with ‘Wolford meets Vivienne Westwood’ and ‘Wolford + Lagerfeld Gallery’ by Karl Lagerfeld. Further seasonal co-brandings followed, such as with Kenzo, Emilio Pucci and Valentino. Today, Wolford AG, which was floated on the stock exchange in Vienna and Paris in 1995 with the LADY AKTIE shares, has 14 subsidiaries worldwide and markets its products in around 65 countries using monobrand boutiques and trade partners as well as online shops.
On its journey to becoming a luxury brand, Wolford proved itself time and again a pioneer in the fashion world.
As early as 1953, the first double perlon stockings were introduced on the market, and in the following years, production expanded rapidly following the acquisition of circular knitting machines. With the first seamless stockings, ‘Fatal’, Wolford caused a furore in the fashion world. These stockings, which do not show up underneath tight-fitting clothing, are currently one of Wolford's best sellers.
To date, Wolford still works with circular knitting machines, which guarantee unmistakable knitting competency. "Claiming to be a luxury brand is based among other things on an uncompromising focus on quality that is maintained throughout all areas of the company, from material purchasing and production right through to distribution," says Holger Dahmen, CEO of Wolford AG, accounting for the consistent brand strategy.
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In February 2010, to support Wolford in maintaining its high quality standards, Wanzl delivered mobile containers to Bregenz that were specially adapted to meet Wolford's requirements for transporting textile products between the individual finishing stages. Wanzl provided the theft-proof ‘Customized Solutions’ with a rod construction for picking up textiles as well as foil covers for protection against dirt and dust.
Only the finest yarns in the world that pass numerous quality tests find their way into Wolford production.
The final finishing of a stocking requires up to 16 work processes, a body up to 25 and a swimsuit even up to 45. Knitting a stocking alone to Wolford quality standards takes between four and fifteen minutes. The following finishing of the foot part requires 35 stitches per centimetre. Then it goes for washing, followed by the dyeing process. At the end is the precise product control with quality approval. Only then can they say: ready for international dispatch!
