Market leader from the outset.
Reinhard Schulte company was founded in 1901, in the same location in Duisburg where it still resides today. The entire production process being combined under a single roof and everything being supplied from a single source was a feature and selling point of the company for its customers from the very beginning.
We very quickly developed into a recognised specialist for woven furs made of mohair and alpaca even beyond Germany. We remain the world market leader in this market niche to this day.
The market launch is closely linked to the Margarete Steiff brand, one of our very first clients even back when both companies were at the very beginning of their respective great histories. The companies’ founders were friends even, and that friendship has endured “across the centuries” all the way to the eventual merger of the two brands just a few years ago.
(In the picture: Paul Steiff on the left and Reinhard Schulte – taken in 1908)
The bears are on the rise again and much more…
The hobbyist market emerged in the 1980s, in particular regarding home-made soft toys. We mostly provided woven furs made of mohair as a kind of “supply depot” for this trend that peaked at the millennium. We moved onto new territory again in late 2007, as we entered the fashion sector, initially in a cooperation with luxury label Prada. Steiff Schulte was eventually acquired by Steiff Holding in 2009, a company with which we had been closely connected from our very beginning.
Since 2019, we have been working on innovative fabric alternatives, including hemp, bamboo, and soy ones, both on behalf of customers and on our own initiative with great success. This happens in response to sustainability trends using newly developed non-animal furs, fully sustainable production, complete traceability, and certifications, among other things for species-appropriate animal husbandry. The luxury market has been picking up speed again steadily after its partial collapse in the coronavirus years – and we can be part of it!
Steiff Schulte keeping up with the furs of the time
Steiff Schulte makes for an impressive whole today: We currently have about three dozen highly skilled employees producing fabrics for the toy market and the fashion industry on looms with a capacity for over 300,000 m of fabric per year.
Acrylic and alternative raw materials may complement our portfolio now, but the alpaca and mohair woven furs remain the core of our brand. We support our customers far beyond the actual production with our support and services, among other things by making our trend and industry knowledge available to them, developing and producing new types of products upon request, or even making the right connections for them at the right time.
