REPORT Rudolf Bagáč
factory and started with Mayser foam products and cables for the automotive industry,” Rudolf says. “My job was to find, hire and train people for the manufacturing of hats. This area is known for its textile industry, which made it logical to start the process with a small sewing department for fabric caps. In order not to make things too complicated right from the start, Mayser would send us all fabric parts for the caps pre-cut, until we
Mayser Lindenberg im Allgäu, Germany
The German brand Mayser has a long history in headwear production. In 1800, hat maker Leonhard Mayser opened a shop for handmade felt men’s hats in the city of Ulm, southern Germany. Over the years the shop grew into a hat manufacturing company. They started producing women’s hats in 1924 and acquired a straw hat factory in Lindenberg im Allgäu in 1929 to expand their range of headwear further.
In 1969 the manufacture of fabric hats in Lindenberg followed, and a few years later the company decided to start with the development and manufacture of polyurethane special foams and system components for their headwear. This side part of the business became very successful and developed into a company specialised in foam and safety technology with branches in several European countries.
At the beginning of the 21st century, when many fashion and hat brands decided to turn to Asia for production because hat manufacturing in their own country had become too expensive, Mayser took the decision to relocate production to their factory in Slovakia. General manager of the Mayser-Slovakia factory Rudolf Bagáč is one of the people who were hired at the beginning of 2004 to help set up the production there. “When I started working here, the factory produced moulded bra cups as a supplier for bigger a local textile
were able to do the cutting of the patterns ourselves.”
At that time, there were about a hundred people working in the hat factory in Lindenberg – from sales to production and shipment. Obviously, they were disappointed that the production would move to another country, but at the same time they were proud that they became involved in the process of getting the production line in Slovakia started. “It was no option to outsource the production to China,” says Rudolf. “Mayser values the high quality of their products and was therefore very determined to keep the production line in Europe. So it was decided to move everything to the factory in Slovakia and we received all the machines, blocks, materials, instructions and know-how from Germany to start producing. Before we could actually start, our workers had to be trained by their German colleagues. The Slovakian workers would go over to the factory in Germany for a few weeks, or even months, until they were qualified. Next, we brought the German workers for several weeks to Slovakia to confirm that the whole process here worked correctly and to the standards of the factory in Germany. When everything was in order,
A/W 21/22 collection
16 | the hat magazine #93
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
