1776 - Birth of the Offenbach leather trade
Be creative? Recognize fashion trends? Trying out new processes? If you're thinking of start-up companies, you're not wrong. More than 200 years ago, bookbinder Josef Anton Mönch demonstrated his entrepreneurial spirit and founded Offenbach's first "case and souvenir factory" in 1776. In doing so, he laid the foundation for one of the city's best-known and most successful industries: the leather goods industry.
The Isenburg princes called the bookbinder Mönch, a native of Stuttgart, to the court in Offenbach. He soon realized that the flourishing costume jewelry industry (semi-precious jewelry) also needed matching caskets and cases for its custom-made pieces. An auxiliary trade was needed. Mönch and his son Johann Karl's bookbindery was soon producing caskets, cases, portfolios and wallets. The raw materials - leather and hides - were sourced from Frankfurt. A large proportion of their customers were also based there. Through the trade fair, they opened up not only national but also international markets. The manufactory, which soon found imitators, was no longer dependent on the jewelry industry. This was a good thing, as the heyday of costume jewelry was soon over.
Son Johann Karl Mönch, who continued the business with the merchant Issak de Jonge after his father's death in 1778, employed around 20 journeymen bookbinders, portfolio workers and carpenters when the order situation was good.
The pieces were made of leather and wood, decorated with saffiano (soft, dyed goatskin) and silk, embroidered, with or without locks - just as current fashion trends and the taste of the buyer dictated. However, the Offenbachers also set their own standards with their combination of skillful craftsmanship and creative talent.
Quality came first: One worker was responsible for each piece at each stage of production; in the eyes of the entrepreneurs, division of labor was not compatible with high quality. Nevertheless, the Offenbach manufactories were open to new working methods and were described as a "highly qualified luxury industry" in a report by the Grand Ducal Chamber of Commerce in 1888.
The son of the founder Mönch ran the company until his death in 1796, and the merchant de Jonge and Jakob Möller continued to run it. Descendants of the founder Mönch were still active in the leather industry well into the 20th century.
Additional information on the subject of "Offenbach and leather":
The Isenburg princes recognized early on that a trade-friendly policy and the resulting economic growth made Offenbach a city. While only 700 to 800 people lived in Offenbach around 1700, by the 18th and early 19th centuries the population had risen to between 5000 and 6000.
Immigrants and traders were readily accepted because the princes hoped that they would enrich the city's offerings. Building plots were given away cheaply or even free of charge, and concessions for trade and commerce were easy to obtain. In contrast to crafts, manufactories had no restrictions on the number of employees - expansion was permitted.
In addition, the trading and trade fair city of Frankfurt prohibited the expansion of trade within its city walls. Many Frankfurters came to Offenbach to expand their businesses or set up their own businesses. Contemporaries and historians described Offenbach as the "most industrial city in the Hessian region" at this time of upswing.
