Gabriel 150 years - Flipbook - Page 40
in ±∫∏∞, Kjærs Mølle won a gold medal for two
upholstery fabrics exhibited at an international textile exhibition in Sacramento, California.
Engineer Jarl Nyebølle was responsible for the
development of the upholstery fabrics and designed most of them himself. The design Tonus,
among others, was created around this time for
a chair designed by Arne Jacobsen.
Competition within the field of upholstery
materials differed somewhat from competition
in clothing fabric. Fabric used for upholstery
was not nearly so dependent on changes in fashion as fabric for clothing. Around ±∫∏∞, six Danish companies competed on the clothing fabric market, and imports from other European
countries were on the increase.
Kjærs Mølle concentrated its efforts on expensive materials of high quality. Most of the
upholstery fabrics made were of pure, new
wool, but wool-viscose mixes were also used.
Among the customers then were the Danish
wholesaler, Kvadrat Boligtekstiler A/S, as well
Kjærs Mølle prior to ±∫∏≥. Although today the fac-
as the textile wholesaler, Gabriel Boligtekstiler
tory is inside the city limits, it is apparent that it is
ApS, in Fredericia. The latter entered the pic-
situated in a low-lying area near the Østerå River.
ture later in an entirely different capacity.
In ±∫∑π, opportunities arose on a previously unknown market – in Communist East Ger-
Out in the world
many. All trade with that country was carried
Well into the ±∫∑∞s, Kjærs Mølle manufactured
out in precise accordance with a trade agree-
almost solely for the domestic market, but the
ment between Denmark and East Germany,
Danish market was becoming too small for the
and the orders came from the central purchas-
Danish makers of clothing fabric. In the mid-
ing agency in East Berlin. In ±∫∑π-∑∫, ±∞% of
±∫π∞s, Aalborg’s largest textile factory, De Fore-
Kjærs Mølle’s production was sold in East Ger-
nede Tekstilfabrikker, ceased operations. This
many, but after a couple of years, exports to
fate was shared by the other Danish textile fac-
that country dwindled. Instead, Kjærs Mølle
tories in the decades following the ±∫∑∞s.
made great progress in Austria, the company’s
Kjærs Mølle began to look beyond the Danish
largest export market in ±∫∏±.
borders, and from the mid-±∫∑∞s, exports incre-
And then another opportunity in Eastern
ased. The Swedish market was developed, and
Europe presented itself, this time in the Soviet
contact was made with salesmen in Norway, Fin-
Union. The orders from this quarter were so
land, Switzerland, England and the United States.
large that in the early ±∫∏∞s Kjærs Mølle estab-
Kjærs Mølle also began to display its products at
lished a spinlon spinning mill and knitting
exhibitions in other countries. In ±∫∑∏-∑π, exports
works specifically to supply the Soviet market.
accounted for approx. ≤∂% of Kjærs Mølle’s sales.
Big rolls of fabric woven of worsted yarn with
1959-1977
41
