CWS Workwear celebrates its 125th anniversary
Circular business model since 1899
Circular business model since 1899
2024 will be a very special year for CWS Workwear. Because it will be a celebration! To mark its 125th birthday, the service provider for workwear has lots of exciting activities in store for employees and customers.
125 years ago, in 1899, Bernhard Burmeister founded his laundry rental service in Hamburg. At that time, it was textiles such as bed linen, towels and table linen that were washed and delivered for customers.
In 1906, Burmeister joined forces with its competitor Oszmer & Co and the boco brand was born. In 1960, the service for workwear was launched and 10 years later the company was already designing its own collections for the craft trades.
A lot has happened since then. The takeover by Haniel and the merger with CWS in 1998, the joint venture with Initial in 2017 and the rebranding in 2019 to create the new CWS Workwear brand.
"In our anniversary year, we will work more intensively on the brand awareness of CWS Workwear in order to increase it beyond the industry in the medium term. At the same time, we want to celebrate our anniversary internally and externally together with our employees and customers," explains Hartmut Engler, CEO of CWS Workwear.
CWS Workwear has an impressive track record. 5,300 employees in 15 countries work for the workwear service provider. Over 1.5 million people wear CWS Workwear at work every day. In addition to the sustainable circular service model, the company relies on recyclable materials. Currently, the proportion is already 68%; by 2025, 90% of the workwear offered is to be made from sustainable materials.