how it all began...
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The success story began back in 1949 in Bregenz on Lake Constance: Industrialist Reinhold Wolff and retailer Walter Palmers founded a company under the name Wolff & Co. KG to create stockings for women made from pure silk and rayon. The technology was based on used American cotton machines, which were adapted to suit Wolford quality standards. These alterations to the machines acted as a kind of copy protection for the products, and as such gave the company a head start against possible competitors from the very beginning. The company continues to set itself apart from its competitors through its innovative knitting technology to this day. A meeting of the founding fathers in the British university town of Oxford reportedly saw the birth of what has now become a globally recognised brand name. |
It is an acronym, derived from the name of the founder Reinhold Wolff and the town of Oxford.Traditional craft – the art of knitting – refined with
the local expertise of the people from a historic textile region lying at the intersection of France, Germany and Switzerland at Lake Constance.
Together with the ambition to always be one step ahead of the competition spurred on the expansion of the company. In 1988, motivated by previous success, there was a change in strategy, with the focus being placed on achieving a positioning within the luxury segment. This strategy has been built on ever since. Furthermore, in April 1988, the company structure was transformed into a public limited company, and the "Lady shares" from Wolford have been noted on the stock exchange in Vienna since 14th February 1995. Over the years, the development of the Vorarlberg knitters into an international premium brand has been achieved through a successful product diversification. |