Collonil

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Collonil - Salzenbrodt GmbH & Co. KG
legal form Limited partnership
founding 1909
Seat Berlin-Reinickendorf , Germany ,
Hermsdorfer Strasse
management Frank Becker,
managing partner
Number of employees 97 wage and salary earners
sales Gross profit = € 18.3 million
Branch Shoe care
Website collonil.com
Status: 2018

Ultra Collonil with the current company logo

Collonil is a brand name for shoe and car care products used by the company Salzenbrodt GmbH & Co. KG . This company was founded in Berlin in 1909 by an editor and two businesspeople. A well-known advertising slogan is “Shoes want Collonil”.

history

The Luxembourg newspaper editor Karl Esslen , who had studied medicine for a few semesters in Paris and worked for his father in a newspaper editorial office, soon gave up this job and set up as a general agent for the Swedish leather oil manufacturer Olsen at the beginning of the 20th century . He bottled the oil obtained from Olsen, which was used to maintain the transmission belts of larger machines and later to impregnate the ropes of airships , and sold it in Germany. To further expand the company, Esslen took on the brothers Paul and Walter Salzenbrodt as partners . However, sales were not satisfactory, so the three new customers looked for and found shoe carriers . To do this, they developed their own shoe polish from oil and South American tree resin and opened a small production facility in Berlin-Kreuzberg in 1909 in two rented rooms in the backyard of the house at Koepenicker Strasse 9. Initially, the company was considered a branch of Olsen: “The Collan oil factories in Stockholm built here a branch in Köpenickerstr. 9a, which is under the direction of Mr. Carl Eßlen ”. The demand rose so quickly and strongly that Esslen and the Salzenbrodts first looked for possibilities for expansion in the area; In 1912 the first factory buildings were built on the property at Schlesische Straße 12 in Berlin-Kreuzberg. From 1914 the company traded as Salzenbrodt & Co. KG , the Salzenbrodt brothers acted as managing directors. The products were now named Collonil . According to the company's own description, the word should refer to the French "coller" (to stick) and thus indicate the sticky consistency of the viscous care product. Much more likely was the name derived from the Swedish product, which was called Coll an-O il (also Collan Olja ), from which the case word Collonil arose . In any case, the company had the name legally protected in May 1914.

During the First World War , the Salzenbrodts were called up for military service in the German army. Because of his Luxembourg nationality, Esslen was able to profitably continue to manufacture and sell the leather care product . A publication on the company's history literally states: “The increased need for water-repellent care products for soldiers' boots was good for sales.” The brothers Paul and Walter Salzenbrodt survived their military service and then returned to the company. It now got the legal form of a limited liability company (GmbH) . The areas of responsibility of the three owners were clearly defined: Esslen was responsible for purchasing raw materials, Paul Salzenbrodt was the technical manager and Walter Salzenbrodt was the commercial manager.

The company brought out a series of shoe care products for the highest demands : high-quality cream, patent leather care, suede dressing and a rough (h) leather pen. Demand rose again, the factory in Berlin soon became too small and so the decision was made to go to Mühlenbeck in Brandenburg , where a larger, newly built production facility was put into operation in 1921. The range was also constantly expanded and adapted to new requirements. The leather gloss grease, with which the disadvantages of impregnation and the resulting lack of gloss, were sold, was very successful.

Increasing production figures led to a flourishing business, on which the political changes had no demonstrable influence. In contrast, the sudden death of Karl Esslen in 1930 and Paul Salzenbrodt in 1935 were decisive. However, the remaining owner Walter Salzenbrodt managed to continue the company through the Nazi era and World War II . The market launch of new care products for leather outerwear was also helpful here. From the Nazi era, advertisements in Nazi-related magazines such as NS-Frauen-Warte , Wille und Macht, Führerorgan der National Socialist Jugend , Das Junge Deutschland, official organ of the youth leader of the German Reich or Der Pimpf, National Socialist youth newspapers have come down to us. From 1930 the company had a branch in Vienna (Holochergasse 34a) which, among other things, sold cosmetic items.

After the Second World War, Mühlenbeck was in the Soviet zone of occupation and the factory there was expropriated . In contrast, a son of Walter Salzenbrodt founded the cosmetics factory WaSalCo (Walter Salzenbrodt & Co.) in Schildow near Berlin in 1947 . As part of the nationalization of companies in the GDR, WaSalco was also expropriated in 1953, and the production facility was henceforth called VEB Gerdeen .

In 1948, Walter Salzenbrodt and his family moved to West Berlin because of the expropriations , which was administered by the Western Allies . Esslen's widow and children did not follow her return to Berlin. In the north of Berlin, Eichborndamm 103 in Berlin-Borsigwalde , Salzenbrodt and his family found good conditions for a fresh start and from around 1953 they started producing Collonil shoe care products again as a family business. Thanks to the beginning of the economic miracle , the need for high-quality shoes and therefore good care products also increased. This increased profits in the West German market, and Collonil products could also be exported to France , Denmark and the Netherlands . Because the usage contract for the factory premises in Borsigwalde was limited in time, a new location had to be found.

Collonil advertisement with old lettering, used in the Netherlands

A new plant was built in Berlin-Wittenau in the 1950s. During this time, Paul Salzenbrodt handed over management to his son Rolf. He ran the business until 1985 and then handed it over to his son Michael. After his sudden death in 1987, the long-time authorized signatory Gert Thuner took over the management and kept this until his retirement.

A few years after the reunification , Collonil - Salzenbrodt GmbH & Co. KG got the property back in Mühlenbeck and built a logistics center on it until 2013 . The materials management , organization and IT departments are now also located here.

However, the company ran into financial difficulties in the 1990s; the businessman Frank Becker took over as managing director. From 1998 he succeeded in the renovation by modernizing the production facilities, introducing contemporary products and opening up new sales markets in Australia , Asia and Russia . Between 1998 and 2018, the export share rose from eight to 65 percent; the company exported its products to over 100 countries, only the South American market has not been developed.

Water-repellent leather care product

Abroad there are branches in Vienna , France and Denmark (as of 2020).

Products (selection)

  • Canned shoe polishes
  • Leather oil
  • Leather grease
  • Shine fat
  • Sport wax for mountaineering and winter sports shoes (from the 1960s)
  • Aerosols , which instead of creams create complete protection without any effort, which remains invisible on the leather (late 1960s)
  • Self -shine with the sponge applicator developed by Collonil (in the 1970s)
  • Air pressure sprays to replace aerosol cans filled with CFC (from the late 1980s)
  • Complete sets
  • Care products for car accessories (Collonil Car Care)
  • as a care product for sneakers, a breathable water and dirt-repellent carbon protection spray, which allows moisture and heat to penetrate to the outside (Collonil Carbon Lab) (from the 1990s)
  • In the 21st century, the company also entered the field of health protection and, following takeovers, also produced foot accessories such as insoles, gel pads, heel cushions, shoe trees and other things such as brushes and cloths under the serial name Collonil Ped .
  • In connection with the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, the company developed a disinfection - pump spray with the trade name Virus Stop and produced it since then.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Imprint of the website , on collonil.com, accessed on April 21, 2020
  2. ↑ a b Federal Gazette: Salzenbrodt GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin. Annual financial statements for the business year from 01/01/2018 to 12/31/2018, on bundesanzeiger.de, accessed on April 21, 2020. (Since it is not possible to enter a deeplink, the company name must be entered in the search mask.)
  3. ↑ also written Carl Eßlen - Eßlen, Carl; Köpenicker Strasse 9a . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1911, I, p. 596.
  4. ↑ a b c d Jochen Knoblach: Leather fat and virus killer . In: Berliner Zeitung of April 3, 2020, p. 16.
  5. ↑ Report by Olsen in the magazine Der Motorwagen, automotive and aviation technology magazine , year 1909.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h Kim Himer, Axel Himer: The great book of leather care. Shoe care, clothing, furniture care. in the Google book search, Verlag Heel, 2011, ISBN 978-3-86852-458-1 .
  7. ↑ The story of Collonil
  8. ↑ Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office , Volume 773 , published 1961; accessed in April 2020.
  9. ↑ Collonil advertising from 1924: “Collonil - recognized best leather oil”; with reference to the factory in Mühlenbeck and its name Esslen & Co GmbH , accessed on April 6, 2020.
  10. ↑ Collonil advertising print from 1947 , accessed on April 6, 2020.
  11. ^ Chronicle in Mühlenspiegel , issue 2, 2016. Accessed on April 12, 2020.
  12. ↑ Collonil Salzenbrodt and Co. GmbH in: Berlin Address 1955; P. 374.
  13. ↑ a b c d Susanne Kollmann: Reinickendorf is home to the sacred halls of shoe polish. Berliner Morgenpost , December 1, 2018, accessed on April 3, 2020 .
  14. ^ Helge Treichel: Shoe care from Oberhavel to the world. MAZ online, September 5, 2013, accessed April 4, 2020 .