Website announcement
(Berlin-hawid / AIJP / pcp-wm)
At the end of January 2021, the well-known company HAWID in Berlin informed its customers:
“As you know, the Hawid company is a symbol of philately. We have been supplying you with our philatelic accessories for many decades.
Fewer and fewer people still use philatelic items. The use of electronic media has also contributed to the fact that sales of our products have been falling for several years.
We
regret to inform you that due to the lack of economic prospects and the
age of the owner Ms. Widmaier (80 years), the company Hawid Hans
Widmaier GmbH will be closed on June 30, 2021. We will continue production until June 30th, 2021 and do our best to carry out all orders during this time
We hope you will be able to find a replacement for our products at short notice and thank you in advance for the many years of trusting cooperation.
With best regards,
Hawid Hans Widmaier GmbH "
A success story of more than 75 years, which began in 1945 with an invention by the engineer and HAWID founder, Hans Widmaier, will probably come to an end by the middle of the year. He developed protective films for collectors from the polystyrene material used by SIEMENS at the time to protect submarine cables. These soon became a brand par excellence under the term “HAWID”, more precisely a generic term (like Pampers, Tempo, etc.). Even if individual accessory suppliers later developed their own products of a similar type, HAWID retained a leading position in the market and quite a few suppliers still offer these products today or use them to equip their preprinted albums.
Comment:
Mounts made of polystyrene are also provided by Prinz and Davo, but if you really prefer Hawid, stock up from your favourite dealer now!
UPDATE:
It is reported from Germany that Lindner, Safe, and Lighthouse are also made by HAWID. It seems really odd that the Hawid company will leave collectors in the lurch and not take 'money on the table', as somebody wrote elsewhere.
I've just found out that there is a local company (Secol) which has been making similar for decades, that most people have never heard of. Looks like they may need to increase capacity and start recruiting, which will benefit the area!
UPDATE 9 September 2021
I have heard from a contact in Austria that Lighthouse have achieved a rescue effort. HF writes:
I just received a letter from HAWID in Berlin, Germany, telling me that they have sold their trademarks, machineries and remaining plastic material to LEUCHTTURM GRUPPE GMBH & CO. KG in Geesthacht, Germany. (in the UK Leuchtturm is known as Lighthouse).
This great company will be missed, I have used generic type mounts in the past but they lack the quality of genuine Hawid mounts, I will be stocking up.
ReplyDeleteLighthouse SF Mounts used to be made by Hawid, but they switched to another manufacturer about 2 years ago.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time as they dropped cut to size mounts from their range.
Secol mounts are aimed at museums mounting a display in a cabinet and are not the clamp style of philatelic stamp mounts, so unsuited to albums.
Hawids closure will also affect Showgard, who will need to find a new manufacturer.