Langro-Chemie celebrate 75th anniversary

To this day, the chemical products company are still located at Strohgäustr.14 in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, the place where they were founded. Established by Theo Lang and Herbert Grönwoldt in 1933, today Langro-Chemie Theo Lang GmbH is the only family-owned-business of its kind. From the start, Langro-Chemie have dealt with the development, production and sales of chemical products for the leather industry and despite their comparatively modest size, they are leading technical innovators in this field. With the pioneering idea of using reactive polyurethanes in combination with a suitable crosslinker, Langro-Chemie contributed substantially to the development of reactive finishing-systems on a purely aqueous basis in the 1970s. Inventive genius, industriousness, customer orientation and above all a feeling for leather, enables them to stay close to the market and develop solutions of high quality. Their UV-Treatment-Process, introduced in 2006 and the groundbreaking use of Nano-Technology from autumn 2007, improving the quality of excellent leather, are milestones in the leather industry worldwide. According to joint CEO Tilo Schumacher around 80% of the football boots used in the 2006 World Cup in Germany were finished with Langro-Chemie products. Worldwide exports Today, approximately 85% of annual turnover is achieved through exports. Exports have been important to Langro-Chemie from early on. The traditional leather companies, located in Europe, soon identified the quality and service, which is based on Langro's vision: to make good leather even better. With this policy, Langro-Chemie have avoided a mass-market focus. Those companies producing high-quality leathers have been and still are of top priority for the company, including those outside the European market. For example, the company have enjoyed excellent relations with Japan and links to the industry in China. Langro-Chemie were one of the first companies to travel to China. South America followed, where the first success was the establishment of a branch in Brazil. The new development centre In their 75th year Langro-Chemie continue to put their customers first and prioritise quality and the ability to innovate, with construction of the new development centre, called ‘Technikum'. Motivated and committed staff will provide the key to lasting success over the coming years. There will be substantial changes for the company in the anniversary year: the development and customer centre as well as administration facilities will be moved to Porschestr. in Zuffenhausen, and the registered office will also change. By June 26, 2008, the day of the anniversary celebration, the new building will be ready and the move will have taken place. Leather experts from all over the world will be inspired by the first ‘leather-world' which will give them the opportunity to work with the company's innovative products and produce the high-quality leathers they require for bags, upholstery, cars or shoes.