REPORT


the German employees were offered alternative jobs in Mayser’s foam and safety technology factory, which remained in Lindenberg.”


For the first two years, the factory in Rožňava only made fabric hats and caps. Once that was fully mastered, they started focusing on felt hats. “We started with wool felt, as that is easier to handle than fur felt. It took us about four to five years to fully get the hang of manufacturing wool and fur felt hats. After that, in 2010, we felt we were finally ready for the final part of the production process: making straw hats such as straw braid and Panama hats, and taking care of the trimming of the hats, which was all still done in Germany.”


When the move of the total hat production line was completed ten years ago, the next logical step was to also move the purchase department to Slovakia. Until that moment, the Germany branch in Lindenberg supplied all the materials they needed. That was not the final step of the whole process though, as one of the biggest changes was still to come. “In 2012 we started moving the warehouse to Slovakia. Before, we delivered everything we produced to Lindenberg and from


there it was sent to the customers. At that moment we were still producing some technical products for Mayser’s automotive branch. We told the management in Lindenberg that we needed to focus on one product and proposed to use the Rožňava factory for the manufacturing of headwear only, which they finally agreed to.”


A lot of time and money was saved by moving the warehouse to Slovakia. Before, all the production needed to be transferred to Germany first, where people had to unpack all the hats and repack them before the orders could be shipped out to the customers. “All the stock is in Slovakia now. But visitors to the former factory in Lindenberg can still buy hats there as they run an outlet store. Lindenberg also still has a small production site, as the design and sales departments stayed in Germany, so all the prototypes are designed and produced over there.”


Since 2012, the total Mayser collection has been produced in Slovakia, and not just in Rožňava but also in Lipany in the east of Slovakia. “When we started production in Rožňava, about 20 to 30 per cent of the population was unemployed, which is high. Nowadays, most people in Slovakia have a job. As


we keep growing and consider quality high priority, we need people who really want to do this kind of work. We operate in a creative industry, but it is hard to find young people who want to work in it. Therefore, we started a second – smaller – production site in Lipany, a town located at a two-hour drive from Rožňava. That part of Slovakia also has a strong textile history, so it is easier to find skilled people there. We still have to train them in the specific techniques, of course, because hat making is quite an unknown craft in Slovakia. We make every type of hat, use any kind of material and produce relatively small batches; therefore, they need to learn a lot. It takes our workers years to qualify.”


For most of the past twenty years, Rudolf and his team have been working on projects to get all the departments organised. Only the last few years were about improvement. “In the upcoming period, we will concentrate at perfecting the traditional work processes as there are new technical changes that can be implemented in the production line. The machines that are used for heating, pressing and sewing are totally different nowadays, so we believe we can make


Production of the S/S 2022 collection in the factory in Rožňava


may 2022 | 17


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