Riri (zipper producer)
| RIRI SA | |
|---|---|
| legal form | SA |
| founding | 1936 |
| Seat | Mendrisio |
| Website | riri.com |
Riri is a Swiss zipper manufacturer based in Mendrisio , Canton Ticino . Riri was founded in 1924 in an old spinning mill in Halle an der Saale by Martin Othmar Winterhalter .
history
Born in Eastern Switzerland, Martin Othmar Winterhalter bought the US patent from the US Swede Gideon Sundbäck for 100,000 francs on June 12, 1923 . However, the product was not yet mature enough to be mass-produced. Winterhalter's great pioneering work consisted in designing closure types based on the patent that can be mass-produced. He also developed and built the machines for their manufacture. He called his zippers ri-ri. Riri is derived from the words groove and rib.
In 1924 the company moved to Halle an der Saale and then in 1927 to Barmen , a traditional location for tapes in Wuppertal . The machine production was patented. In 1925, 100 workers were already producing 500 meters of zippers on the assembly line. At the end of the year, 1,000 employees were already producing 10,000 meters of zippers. The financial breakthrough came in 1929 with a revolutionary injection molding process. Up to 1200 people were employed in the 1930s.
At the beginning of the Second World War , Germany intervened in everyday and economic life. In 1936 the Wuppertal works faced state tutelage. Winterhalter looked around for alternative locations in Switzerland and moved the headquarters to Mendrisio. He founds the Riri works. At the same time, the war industry boosted production enormously. Winterhalter's fortune was estimated at 30 million francs at the time. After the war, rationalization became the dominant catchphrase. Increasingly, all metal zippers were made by wire using a tape process. For this purpose, the staples are punched out of a wire in a single production cut and at the same time pressed onto the fabric strip.
In 1948 the patents expired. Cheap competition threatened worldwide. Crucial innovation was now missing. In the years that followed, Winterhalter lost a large part of his assets while traveling and investing and was temporarily under guardianship.
From 2001, the company developed more and more high-tech products in the technical clothing and equipment market. In 2003 Riri sponsored the Alinghi , which sailed in the final of the America's Cup and won it. In 2007 the Riri Group merged with Meras SpA and Cobrax SpA and became the leading manufacturer of zippers, snaps, rivets and jeans buttons. In 2008, Riri was bought by Sofipa ( Unicredit ). It has been part of the Dutch fund Gilde Buy Out Partners since 2014, with the company's management also holding shares.
literature
- Sascha Stahl: The zipper king. Bucher, Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-99018-067-9 .
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christoph Stokar: Der Schweizer Knigge: What is valid today ?, Observer Edition , 2013 [1]
- ↑ a b c Alex Baur: Ribs, grooves, grilling. In: NZZFolio. October 1998, p. 28 ( online ).
- ↑ a b Google honors the zipper - and Swiss pioneers , Handelszeitung , April 24, 2014
- ↑ Information board: Former RiRi zip fastener factory, Gennebrecker Strasse 19a-21, Wuppertal. Retrieved May 27, 2017 .
- ↑ Helga Wienröder: Riri: On the road to success with high-tech Zips. Handelszeitung, November 28, 2005
- ^ Riri on course with Alinghi , swissinfo.ch, February 11, 2003
- ↑ a b Sofipa (Unicredit) acquisisce Riri Group , soldionline.it, June 4, 2008
- ↑ Dutch fund Gilde buys Italian-Swiss luxury zip maker RiRi , bebeez.it, October 27, 2014
- ↑ Management and Gilde Buy Out Partners acquire Riri , ftseglobalmarkets.com, accessed May 28, 2017
Coordinates: 45 ° 52 ′ 19 " N , 8 ° 58 ′ 34" E ; CH1903: 719 385 / 81205