X-Technology Swiss Research & Development

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X-Technology Swiss Research & Development
legal form Corporation
founding 1998
Seat Wollerau , SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland 
management Pär Westerlind (CEO)
Number of employees about 600
sales approx. EUR 100 million
Branch Sportswear
Website www.x-technology.com
As of June 25, 2018

X-Technology Swiss Research & Development is a Swiss manufacturer of sportswear based in Wollerau . The company is a non- listed AG . Around 600 employees work for the company worldwide and the brands - above all the three functional clothing brands X-Bionic, X-Socks and Apani - are represented in over 40 countries. According to the company, around 2.2 billion euros are to be turned over annually with products that contain technologies and patents developed in-house. The company itself generates annual sales of around 100 million euros.

history

The starting point for the company is a meeting of the PhD industrial engineer and economics professor Bodo W. Lambertz with an Italian sock manufacturer from Asola in Cologne at the end of 1996, who with his complaint about price wars with suppliers from so-called low - wage countries gave the impetus to manufacture scientifically and technically designed socks and thus establishing it.

Around ten years after it was founded, Patrick Lambertz, a trained documentary filmmaker and son of the founder, joined the company as the second generation and "made a name for himself [...] as a creative head in marketing". In the summer of 2016, Bodo Lambertz handed over operational responsibility to an external CEO, but remained chairman of the supervisory board. His successor left after a year and Patrick Lambertz took over the management.

At Ispo 2018, the company announced that it was reorganizing production and sales. The Norman Group from Castel Goffredo ( province of Mantua ) in northern Italy was commissioned to manufacture the “X-Bionic” products, and the Intersocks company for the “X-Socks” socks . In addition to “global growth” and a “significant increase in production numbers” to 40,000 parts per day or twelve million per year, the company management welcomed “not least a higher quality” thanks to the new partners. Specifically, the new "Retina High Definition Technology" was named, with which more needles should achieve better knitting resolution. In addition, the processes were "fully verticalized" - that is, knitting, sewing, dyeing, washing and packaging in a factory - which u. a. shortened the transport routes. In addition, according to the company, production capacity increased by a factor of three. In May 2018, the German sales department was also reorganized, which the industry media saw as “a further step towards expansion”.

Companies

background

In one portrait, the company, whose clothing is developed on the basis of scientific findings, was described as “a kind of think tank”. In fact, X-Technology Swiss Research & Development invested around 24 million euros "in sock research" and "another 16 to 17 million euros in the development of other functional clothing" in the first 20 years. The company follows the core idea of ​​“using bionic knowledge from nature”, which releases energy reserves through “thermoregulation in sport”. With the sub-brand “X-Bionic Individual”, individual items are also made. The basis is a forty-five-minute continuous load, during which a scanner scans “the customer's body millimeter by millimeter” and, among other things, “sonographs, observation of the sweat build-up, 360-degree all-round measurement of the sweat distribution” are used. The development brings together biologists, sports scientists, engineers, bionics experts and professional athletes. Confirmatory tests with regard to the effectiveness of the "X-Bionic Effector" technology in particular were, among other things. a. carried out by the Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt and the universities in Dortmund and Münster . Before that there was also a collaboration with the University of Verona . She confirmed that X-Bionic brand pants and shirts result in less temperature rise and lower lactate levels. This was made possible by the paradigm shift that normal sportswear removes sweat from the skin, while "X-Bionic" distributes sweat as a natural coolant on the skin and thus maintains the core temperature of 37 degrees Celsius. This reduces the effort required to regulate body temperature in endurance sports, for which, according to the University of Verona, up to 97% of the energy used would otherwise be used.

Brands

At its core, the company X-Technology Swiss R&D markets three brands. X-Socks is designed solely for socks, X-Bionic is the roof for all other functional clothing. The brand name Apani stands as an acronym for "As pure as nature intended". The basic material is merino wool, which has been made “intelligent”.

The range includes "more than 300 products of various kinds for a wide variety of activities", so the FAZ in a portrait.

Sponsoring and Cooperations

The Slovak Olympic training center in Šamorín, southwest of Bratislava , the X-Bionic Sphere , bears the name of one of the brands.

In 2014, X-Technology became the supplier to the national alpine skiing team of the Swiss association Swiss-Ski . Before that, the "Norwegian cracks around Aksel Lund Svindal " received functional underwear from Wollerau. In 2017, X-Technology became the official sponsor of the team kit of the Gazprom-RusVelo cycling team , after they had already received underwear and socks. Two years later, alpine athlete Wendy Holdener became a brand ambassador. X-Technology has been supporting ultra-mountain biker Kai Saaler , who is both world champion and European champion in 12 and 24-hour mountain biking, since 2017 .

On the corporate side, X-Technology (or a respective brand) has also entered into collaborations with Lamborghini , Jack Wolfskin and Harley-Davidson or the Chinese company Sanfo.

Awards

The company regularly receives awards for its products, which, according to the company, have been in the mid three-digit range over the years. In 2018/2019, for example, a running jacket was awarded the ISPO Gold Award, the Red Dot Design Award and the iF Award due to the “ThermoSiphon” technology . With the latter award, the company received more than 50 honors.

In 2019, company founder Bodo Lambertz received the seventh “Lifetime Achievement Award” of the “Plus X Award”, which has been given since 2007. The year before, on the occasion of its 15th anniversary, “X-Bionic” was recognized as the brand that received the most awards in the “Sports & Lifestyle” and “Sports Clothing” categories.

reception

In addition to the specialist media, the general press also deals with the textiles from X-Technology Swiss Research & Development. In 2008, the attitude of the company's founder, Bodo Lambertz, that sweat should not be removed but rather "spread over a large area" served the NZZ as an introduction to the article "Faith war about smart textiles".

In a self-experiment in 2014 , Alexandra Grauvogl von der Welt stocked up on “special compression clothing from X-Bionic” in order to “delay or alleviate the acidification of the muscles” during her first marathon. In the following year, the Der Spiegel running sports columnist Achim Achilles described the Swiss in a personal test of compression underwear as “the freaks among sportswear producers”. a. because an “X-Bionic shirt consists of an infinite number of differently woven surfaces, sometimes lengthways, sometimes across, sometimes diagonally, sometimes tight, sometimes very tight”. A few months earlier in the summer of 2015, Wirtschaftswoche wrote about "Five trends that are revolutionizing our textiles". X-Technology was listed as an example of the trend “Great climate on the skin”.

In addition, at the end of 2018 , the renowned New York Times had American ski star Bode Miller present things "without which he would not travel". He explicitly named the Swiss socks.

Trivia

In the summer of 2013, the company opened the first German store for its X-Bionic brand in Munich.

When Mars Mission Training 2018 the Austrian Space Forum in Oman ( AMADEE-18 Mars simulation Oman ) was X-Technology concerned about clothes "X-Bionic" brand.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Ulrike Arlt: With X-Bionic and X-Socks, all signs point to growth. In: sazsport.de. February 2, 2018, accessed November 1, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c Joachim Hofer: Over peaks and through valleys . In: Handelsblatt . June 26, 2018 (film- ready tug-of-war for sports company X-Bionic (online title on handelsblatt.de )).
  3. ↑ a b X-Technology Swiss R&D AG announces change of ownership. In: radmarkt.de. February 15, 2019, accessed October 30, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b Mara Javorovic: Handover: X-Bionic mother with new owner. In: textilwirtschaft.de. February 5, 2019, accessed October 30, 2019 .
  5. ↑ a b Prof. Dr. Bodo W. Lambertz - Interview . In: Hochedel . S. 28–39 ( online at hochedel.ch ).
  6. ↑ a b Peter-L. Meier: He invented it! In: Switzerland - The hiking magazine . No. 6 , 2012, p. 80-83 ( online at yumpu.com ).
  7. ↑ a b c Morten Okbo: How X-Bionic are reinventing team kit. In: rouleur.cc. October 12, 2017, accessed November 1, 2019 .
  8. ↑ a b c d e Walter Wille: X-Technology - Totally off your socks . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 157 , October 7, 2018 ( online at faz.net ).
  9. ↑ a b c Francesco Romani: Scatta la staffetta X-Bionic, tocca alla Norman Group. In: Gazzetta di Mantova. June 5, 2018, accessed November 1, 2019 (Italian).
  10. ^ Anna Friedrich: Company: X-Bionic: De Witte is CEO. In: textilwirtschaft.de. July 28, 2016, accessed October 30, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Harald Bajohr: X-Technology Swiss sets the course for global growth. In: soq.de. February 14, 2018, accessed November 14, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Mathias Krenski: X-Bionic produces smarter in the Future Factory. In: sazsport.de. November 29, 2017, accessed November 1, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Solveig Schneider: X-Technology reorganizes sales in Germany. In: sazsport.de. March 16, 2018, accessed November 14, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Joachim Hofer: Personalized textiles: shoes and shirts as unique as your own body. In: handelsblatt .com. February 5, 2019, accessed November 1, 2019 .
  15. ↑ a b On the winning road with X-BIONIC. In: innovationintextiles.com. May 21, 2013, accessed November 1, 2019 .
  16. ↑ a b Jürgen Rees, Katharina Kistler: Five trends that are revolutionizing our textiles. In: wiwo.de . June 26, 2015, accessed November 1, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Max Fischer: EQUIPMENT : Ski stars ride with Schwyzer high-tech. In: luzernerzeitung.ch. August 2, 2014, accessed November 1, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Chris Remington: X-Bionic partners with Swiss world champion. In: tevonews.com. May 1, 2019, accessed November 1, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Felix Petzel: X Bionic Lamborghini - the most complex functional jacket in the world. In: hikeandbike.de. April 27, 2019, accessed November 14, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Sofia Celeste: X-TECHNOLOGY CEO. In: swissstyle.com. January 1, 2021, accessed November 14, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Bodo W. Lambertz: Supersportswear - New market opportunities through cooperation. In: Wirtschaftsmagazin, Jahrbuch 2016. Retrieved on November 14, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Lars Becker: Sanfo-CEO: China's outdoor market is so attractive for the West. In: ispo.com. June 4, 2019, accessed November 14, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Harald Bajohr: X-Technology's ThermoSiphon receives ISPO Gold and Plus X Award. In: soq.de. January 25, 2018, accessed October 30, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Red Dot Design Award: SphereWind 4.0 Run Jacket. In: red-dot.org. December 19, 2018, accessed October 30, 2019 .
  25. ↑ X-BIONIC® SphereWind Run Jacket. In: ifworlddesignguide.com. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  26. ^ X-Technology Swiss. In: ifworlddesignguide.com. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  27. ↑ The Lifetime Achievement Award - The award for life's work. In: plusxaward.de. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  28. ↑ The Plus X Award celebrates the Day of the Brand! - Plus X Award. In: plusxaward.de. Retrieved November 14, 2019 .
  29. ↑ Jürg Buschor: Faith war about smart textiles. In: nzz.ch. October 16, 2008, accessed November 1, 2019 .
  30. ↑ Alexandra Grauvogl: How to analyze your pain during a marathon. In: welt.de . September 27, 2014, accessed November 1, 2019 .
  31. ↑ Achim Achilles : Achilles' Verse: Breathless in the functional corset. In: Spiegel Online . November 25, 2015, accessed November 1, 2019 .
  32. ^ What Bode Miller Can't Travel Without . In: New York Times . December 23, 2018 ( online at nytimes.com ).
  33. ↑ Sabine Spieler: Company: X-Bionic opens its first German store. In: textilwirtschaft.de. July 9, 2013, accessed October 30, 2019 .
  34. ↑ Ulrike von Leszczynski: Simulated Mission to Mars: A comfort blanket for astronauts. In: Spiegel Online . May 30, 2018, accessed November 16, 2019 .
  35. ^ X-Bionic bound for Mars. In: x-bionic.com. Retrieved November 16, 2019 .