Amstetten - Jörg Lederer GmbH celebrated 75 years of manufacturing elastic covered yarns in July with a special event for customers, colleagues and suppliers.
Based in Amstetten (Württ), Germany, Lederer Elastic Yarns was founded in 1948 by Jörg Lederer, producing elastic covered yarns for a wide range of applications - from fashionable legwear (hosiery /socks) to woven fabrics and medical products.
These days, the family business, which has also developed a specialism in supplying yarns to the compression sector, is still run by Beatrice Lederer, the third generation of the Lederer family, and her managing director colleague Bernd Grupp.
After three challenging years for the entire industry, the company held its 75th anniversary in July 2023, an occasion that was the ideal opportunity to invite customers, suppliers, business partners and family to a joint celebration and to celebrate under the motto "LEDERER -75 years young".
"At 75, you're actually retired for a long time," Beatrice Lederer explains. "At least on paper. With the takeover of the company into the third generation and the almost simultaneous entry of my managing director colleague Bernd Grupp, a new era has begun for us as the Lederer company."
The historic milestone was also a chance for Lederer to reflect on 75 years of experience in yarn production with the management duo aiming to take this vital core knowledge of the industry into the future whilst at the same time taking account of the changes and complexity of the industry by opening up to new technological innovations, applications and markets.
Supporting this future growth is the recent purchase of new covering machines which has opened up almost unlimited possibilities in yarn production for the medical sector. Developments can be now tested and produced faster on the new machines for medical yarns, which also shortens delivery times.
In other recent developments, Lederer has established a partnership with Shieldex, a manufacturer of metallized textiles, to create a series of wrapped yarns that have applications in compression wear and socks as well as technical textiles.
With increasing demand from the fashion and activewear sectors, Lederer has also acquired some machines from its former competitor Swisslastic, with which it is upping its production of elastic covered yarns with natural fibres.
In total, Lederer now operates more than 200 covering machines allowing it to offer a bespoke service of single and predominantly double covered yarns to more than 170 customers, mostly across Europe but also across the world.
Beatrice Lederer explains: "We have a very large and versatile machinery park and are constantly working to improve our technologies. We are able to configure the set up of our production to meet the required specifications for our yarns. Our development department consists of a young, dynamic team paired with colleagues who have years of experience in the field of elastic covered yarns. This combination is unbeatable when it comes to developing new innovative yarns for our customers."
The company also broke new ground with the concept of its anniversary celebration. "It was important to us to invite not only our top customers, but also our suppliers and business partners," Lederer and Grupp added. "Only together can we strengthen our competencies and successfully move into the future. The fact that all market participants have the opportunity to exchange information with each other at the same time is not possible in everyday life."
Events
As expected, the anniversary event proved to be the ideal opportunity to invite customers, colleagues, friends and family to a relaxed industry get-together.
During a tour of the plant, the guests were able to discover not only the production processes at Lederer, but also the people behind the brand.
Mrs. Sandra Stein, business development manager at Lederer, introduced guests to the newly developed sample and training room.
In addition to internal training, this room can be used to discuss new developments and to provide inspiration with the help of numerous physical samples. A variety of current and innovative materials are also available for customers to handle and sample before making their purchasing decisions.
The guests were also very enthusiastic about the technical centre, where Lederer has a miniature model of every covering machine available in its production hall. Development manager Frank Kertsch, a passionate and experienced textile engineer presented a range of the company's latest developments.
He also explained how as a renowned and competent development partner for its customers, Lederer can respond individually to customer needs and develop and produce bespoke covered yarns that are effectively made to measure.
Entertainment
Following the daytime tours and presentations, Lederer also presented an evening of entertainment with guests transported to the location on an historic steam locomotive.
The evening began with an inspiring lecture from Benedikt Böhm, international managing director of the Dynafit brand and extreme ski mountaineer. With an array of impressive pictures, Böhm offered an inspirational business talk, taking the guests out of the textile world and into fascinating environment of mountaineering. Here he explained how to achieve goals faster and more successfully by reducing to the essentials - something, he said, that was applicable to "both business life and life in the mountains".
Following this, guests rounded off the evening with live music and a menu of speciality Swabian dishes.
"A successful event for the industry and an inspiring start for many more years of Jörg Lederer GmbH, which has shown the courage to break new ground," said Beatrice Lederer.
