About Us
In 1849, Carl Johann Freudenberg and his partner Heinrich Christian Heintze took over a tannery in the Mllheim valley near Weinheim after the liquidation of the Heintze and Sammet company. With new, fashionable products such as patent leather and satin leather, the company grew and exported all over the world.
Between 1900 and 1904, in the course of his own experiments, Hermann Ernst Freudenberg, son of the company's founder, became the first European to develop a tanning process using chrome liquor instead of vegetable dyes. This invention reduced production time by months, and Freudenberg became one of the biggest tanneries in Europe.
The period of the First World War, inflation and the economic crisis of 1929 hit the company hard. Until then, 60-70% of the leather produced had been exported. Exports suddenly became impossible, and the founder's grandchildren faced the question: Where do we go from here?
Contact Freudenberg Group North America:
Cheryl Eberwein
47690 East Anchor Court
Plymouth, Mich. 48170-2455
Office: +1 (734) 354-5373
Cell: +1 (248) 767-1068
Fax: +1 (734) 451-0043