Then: A circular loom produced by Vereinigte Mechanische Werkstätten Mayer & Cie. © Mayer & Cie.

It is a summer’s day in the German Empire, five years after the turn of the 29^th century, when eight men render a signature that is to lay the foundation of a long, successful corporate history.

Johann Georg Conzelmann, his two sons Karl and Jakob, Jakob Schmid, the brothers Johann Georg and Johannes Mayer, and Emil Schweikhofer and Johannes Neher sign on the Commercial Register. It reads‚Vereinigten Mechanischen Werkstätten Mayer & Cie. and It is dated 8 July 1905.

Happy 115th birthday, Mayer & Cie.!

“The surname Mayer is part of the then longer company name, as two Mayers are partners, bringing machines and capital into the company that employed 20 people in its first year, explains Sebastian Mayer, current Member of the Management Board.

Today: A Mayer & Cie. Relanit 3.2 HS, one of the most productive single jersey machines on the market. © Mayer & Cie.

“Yet, it had no director because each founder, formerly competitors, had his own focus, a fact reflected in the young company’s portfolio. In the shop window, there were bikes and sewing machines on display. The list of repair works was even wider, also including heating systems and circular looms. As proprietary products, the latter soon became a commercial success. Only in the thirties, they had to make way for circular knitting machines, today’s successful signature product.”

The rest is history, as they say. Mayer & Cie’s 115 years history, which covers pandemics, world wars, ‘economic miracle’ years and economic crises, can be found at https://www.mayercie.com/unternehmen/historie/.