Rolf A. Königs

And we realized that a massive structural transformation had already taken place in the textile industry, from the early 50s to the end of the 70s. When you consider that in 1950 Germany had 3,800 textile companies with 564,000 employees… By 1978, which is when I took over the business, two thirds of them had disappeared. That was a wake-up call for us. And if we look specifically at the Lower Rhine chamber of commerce – Mönchengladbach, Krefeld, Viersen, Neuss, the former stronghold of the textile industry – in 1960 there were 407 textile companies. 407! Today we have barely over 20! And that’s why in 1978, ‘79, we woke up and said to ourselves, we cannot and we dare not continue like this. If we continue like this, then we’ll end up contributing to the percentage of companies that went under, that withdrew from the market. And we didn’t want that, so we reinvented ourselves in 1978, because we companies recognised that we had to change, develop new avenues of business, because today there are many new applications for textile materials. And that’s why I’m being not only optimistic, but realistic, when I predict the renaissance of the textile industry. It will happen. You can write that down and date it today. Unimagined new possibilities: the car industry, construction industry, pharmaceutical industry. Endless possibilities! To say nothing of innovative, creative textile technology, which is now being developed and produced everywhere. They’re being developed and produced everywhere. This is our opportunity! Above all else, these are products with a high degree of know-how, that can’t be so easily copied. That lends itself to unique selling points. And that’s why I say that the textile industry will trend upwards, especially in North Rhine-Westphalia. The companies are ready for it.