W. Wächtershäuser

W. Wächtershäuser GmbH is a long-established German retailer and wholesaler specialising in sewing and tailoring supplies (Kurzwaren), based in the old town of Frankfurt am Main. The business traces its origins to a linen and yarn trading shop founded by the tailor Georg Sauer, who gave up his craft after being repeatedly denied master status by the Frankfurt tailors' guild. According to the company's own account, the shop was founded in 1822, but because its premises and archives were destroyed in the bombing of Frankfurt on 22 March 1944, the founding year cannot be documented; surviving records point to 1839. The name Wächtershäuser was adopted later, after Conrad Wilhelm Wächtershäuser married into the founding family. Over the 19th and 20th centuries the business changed hands several times and moved within the Frankfurt old town, settling at Töngesgasse 61 / Liebfrauenberg 28. It survived the destruction of 1944, reopened in the Großen Eschenheimer Straße, and later returned to a new building on the old site. In the mid-1960s the company abandoned fabric sales and concentrated entirely on sewing accessories. Since January 1998 the shop has been owned by Sibylle Zolles, who had worked there since 1988. Today W. Wächtershäuser operates a retail store in central Frankfurt and an online shop at naehzutaten.de. Its range includes cotton seam tape, bias binding, sewing silk, zippers, buttons, patches, tailor's chalk, elastic, and numerous other notions, including unusual and rare items that can be ordered on request. The market for sewing and tailoring supplies has shrunk considerably due to cheap mass-produced clothing, but the company believes its broad and specialised assortment secures its future. According to the Frankfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK), it is one of only three remaining specialist shops for sewing notions in Frankfurt, competing mainly with the notions departments of department stores.

The history of W. Wächtershäuser begins with Georg Sauer, a journeyman tailor who moved from Sulzbach to Frankfurt in 1820. The Frankfurt tailors' guild repeatedly refused him master status because he was not a local and the trade was already overcrowded. Until 1864, the Free City of Frankfurt had no freedom of trade, and settlement was subject to numerous controls dating back to the Middle Ages to protect established craftsmen. Sauer could not initially acquire Frankfurt citizenship. In 1838 he decided to give up tailoring and become a linen and yarn merchant. He took his citizen's oath on 31 December 1838 and opened his shop in the Schärfengäßchen the following year. According to the company's own account, the founding year is 1822, but this cannot be proven because the building and company archive were completely destroyed in the bombing of 22 March 1944. The few surviving documents in private and municipal archives give 1839 as the founding year. Just three years after the shop was founded, some of the largest Frankfurt tailoring firms were among its customers. Sauer died in 1840; his widow Anna Sabina Sauer married the journeyman tailor Johann Jacob Friedrich Lange from Bremen, who continued the business. Between 1843 and 1848 the shop moved to new premises in the Ziegelgasse. Later, Johanna Sophie Sauer, Sauer's second daughter born in 1838, took over the shop. She was married to Conrad Wilhelm Wächtershäuser (1838–1881), the son of a house servant couple of the Frankfurt Bethmann family. In 1863 the Frankfurt address books first list the business in the Ziegelgasse under the name Wächtershäuser. After Wächtershäuser's death, Jean Michael Schäfer took over the business and moved it in 1890/1891 to its current location in the Töngesgasse, very close to the original site in the Schärfengäßchen. In 1923/1924 Walter Woelk bought the company. In 1928 he hired Johanna Erb as manager. In an obituary for Woelk's death in 1961, the art historian Fried Lübbecke wrote that Wächtershäuser was one of the noblest firms of the old town. In March 1944 the Frankfurt old town was almost completely destroyed, including the W. Wächtershäuser shop building. The corner house at Liebfrauenberg 28 / Töngesgasse 61, also called Goldene Rebe, had shortly before been elaborately renovated as part of the old town redevelopment, exposing the half-timbering of the house built in 1719/1720 directly after the Great Christian Fire. After the Second World War the company reopened in the Großen Eschenheimer Straße. It stayed there briefly before moving back to a new building on the site of the old house in the Töngesgasse. In 1959 Walter Woelk's grandson of the same name, Johanna Erb, and her son Horst Erb took over the company. In the mid-1960s the company gave up selling fabrics and switched entirely to the trade in sewing accessories. After Woelk left at the end of the 1970s, the Erbs ran the shop until 1997. In January 1998 Sibylle Zolles, who had worked at W. Wächtershäuser since 1988, took over the specialist shop as owner. Zolles was also for some years the owner of the Viennese traditional shop Alois Frimmel – Zum alten Knopfkönig. Today the market for sewing and tailoring supplies has continued to shrink because cheap industrial mass-produced clothing means hardly anyone sews clothes themselves. According to the Frankfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK), W. Wächtershäuser is one of three remaining specialist shops for sewing notions in Frankfurt and competes only with the notions departments of department stores. Through a comprehensive range of even unusual and rare sewing supplies, which can also be ordered on customer request, the company believes its future is secure. Because of its long tradition spanning at least 170 years and continued through changing owner families, W. Wächtershäuser has occasionally been the subject of press reports, documentaries, and historical accounts of individual aspects of Frankfurt's history and economy.

• 1998

  Sibylle Zolles takes over the specialist shop as owner in January.

• 1997

  The Erb family runs the shop until 1997.

• 1960

  Mid-1960s: the company gives up fabric sales and focuses entirely on sewing accessories.

• 1959

  Walter Woelk's grandson, Johanna Erb, and her son Horst Erb take over the company.

• 1944

  The shop building is destroyed in the bombing of Frankfurt on 22 March; company archives are lost.

• 1928

  Walter Woelk hires Johanna Erb as manager.

• 1923

  Walter Woelk buys the company (1923/1924).

• 1890

  Jean Michael Schäfer moves the business to its current location in the Töngesgasse (1890/1891).

• 1863

  Frankfurt address books first list the business under the name Wächtershäuser.

• 1843

  The shop moves to new premises in the Ziegelgasse (until 1848).

• 1840

  Georg Sauer dies; his widow Anna Sabina Sauer marries Johann Jacob Friedrich Lange, who continues the business.

• 1839

  Earliest documented founding year; Sauer opens his shop in the Schärfengäßchen.

• 1838

  Georg Sauer takes the citizen's oath on 31 December and decides to become a linen and yarn merchant.

• 1822

  Claimed founding year of the business by the company itself; not verifiable due to destruction of archives in 1944.

Traditional specialist shop for sewing and tailoring supplies in Frankfurt, offering a broad and unusual assortment.

• Cotton seam tape 20 mm

• Cotton bias binding 40/20 mm

• Sewing silk

• Zippers

• Buttons

• Patches

• Tailor's chalk

• Elastic

1. 1W. Wächtershäuser GmbH Nähzutaten in Frankfurt am Mainnaehzutaten.de
2. 2Wir über unsnaehzutaten.de
3. 3W. Wächtershäuser – Wikipediade.wikipedia.org
4. 4W. Wächtershäuser – Wikidatawikidata.org