The history of the company

They found what they were looking for in Wuerttemberg in Germany, which at that time was bitterly poor, where labourers and free hydropower were available in abundance. It was surely a lucky coincidence that in those days the cotton-processing textile industry was becoming increasingly important in the entire German Mittelgebirgsregionen – the Central German Uplands Region. At first, they produced textiles for bedding and clothing, later Elmer & Zweifel specialised in producing fabrics for medical and technical use as well as baby care textiles. This market was very interesting and stable for many years – up until the fall of the Berlin Wall and competition from the Far East which posed a challenge to the company, the same challenge that the cousins Heinrich and Friedrich were confronted with the 19th-century. It quickly became clear: this field of business would shrink rapidly. The future would belong to organic and fairly produced cotton. The first organic cotton was processed as early as 1995, and in 2003 the first Cotonea products were launched onto the market.

The company Gebr. Elmer & Zweifel is still family owned. The founders – like all five generations that came after them - decided to lead a sustainable life and choose to use an as environmentally-friendly production process as possible out of respect for creation. For decades the company has been honouring this decision– at first only at the Bempflingen site and in the region, but also, since the opening up of the world's markets, we have been honouring this decision globally wherever we are active as a company.