History
Quality, innovation and specialisation – the thread through company history
There has been times, when shirt and collar have not been inseparably tied together, in those days you would button them together. This is how far back the history of ETERNA goes.
1863 The brothers Hönigsberg founded the company, which is the origin of today’s ETERNA fashion cooperation, in 1863 in Vienna. Their invention of a patented double fabric is quickly established as a fashionable must-have in man’s world. This specialty makes the name ETERNA (Latin: eternal) famous and clears the way for the non-iron shirt and later the non-iron blouse.
1927 Opening of a branch office in Passau – which explains today’s location.
1935 Detachment from the Austrian parent company and founding of an independent company, integrated into the PIAG (Passauer Industrie AG).
1949 The year of reconstruction following the war.
1952 Launch of a blouse-collection.
1981 For the first time, ETERNA is purchasing non-iron ‘swiss+cotton’ fabrics from Switzerland which today form the basis of a large part of the product range of ETERNA.
1993 On the occasion of the 130th anniversary, the company moves into the new headquarters, a brand new building in an industrial estate called Sperrwies.
1996 In this year, ETERNA manages to hit two important marks: the 10 millionth EXCELLENT shirt (non-iron) and the 1 millionth EXCELLENT blouse (non-iron) are sold.
1997 ETERNA buys the former contractor in Banovce in Slovakia and does an all-embracing remodelling.
2000 As the first manufacturer of business shirts and blouses in the world, ETERNA is certified with the Oeko-Tex Standard 100plus, as a sign of products free of harmful substances and a universally sustainable production with high social standards.
2001 Launching of the brand tie collection, with designs that are perfectly matched with the shirt fabrics.
2002 Thanks to the successful development of the company, a further enlargement of the administration area is necessary only ten years after the move into the new building.
2003 Expansion of the modern logistics centre in Passau up to a total storage capacity of 550.000 shirts and 150.000 blouses.
2004 Kick-off of an ETERNA shop system as well as two monobrand – pilotstores in Koblenz and in the „Münchner OEZ“ (a shopping mall).
2006 The investor group Alpha Gruppe + Quadriga Capital from Frankfurt takes over; the former ETERNA fashion stock cooperation is changed into a cooperation.
2008/2009 For the second time in a row, ETERNA is nominated as “Superbrand” by the independent global organisation Superbrands. This decoration emphasises ETERNA’s meaning as a leading brand.
2009 Peter Rentsch becomes CEO and takes interest in the company as a shareholder.
2011 Expansion of the premium domain with the world exclusive innovation Dynamic Cotton, pure cotton fabrics which are flexible and herald a new era of wearing comfort.
With around 5.000 commercial partners all over the world, as well as 43 retail stores, 96,5 million euro sales volume are earned.
2012 Successful placement of the bond in the mid-market segment Bondm of Stuttgart Stock Exchange, with a volume of 35 Million EUR. After two hours, the bond was fully placed and five times oversubscribed in sum.
2013 Henning Gerbaulet is Peter Rentsch’s successor and becomes Managing Director of the company.
ETERNA can prevail against its competitors and gets a top position in category “total image”, with an award as “top brand blouses 2013”.
In 2013, ETERNA celebrates its 150th anniversary and remembers its tradition as a shirt- and blouse specialist.
2014 ETERNA reaches a new record turnover amounting to € 97,3 mio. net representing a further milestone in the company´s history of over 150 years.
In 2014 ETERNA also proved its remarkable inventiveness and presented the first non-iron shirts made of comfortable stretch fabrics in the Non Iron programme: a further worldwide innovation!
2015 As of 2015 ETERNA shows its new self-confidence in a completely redesigned brand communication and shares the values of the brand even more clearly than before.
The new brand identity with a new logo, labeling and a differentiated, unequivocal visual language will support ETERNA to achieve the medium-term goal to become the European Category Leeder for shirts and blouses until 2020.