Strotz

Arnold Strotz opened his own umbrella workshop in Uznach, in Switzerland's canton of St. Gallen, in 1851, right after finishing his apprenticeship, selling handmade individual pieces first to regional shops and then nationally. Around thirty Swiss umbrella-making firms existed at the trade's peak before industrial mass production and foreign competition thinned the field; Strotz is the one that survived, and today it is Switzerland's only remaining umbrella factory still running its own production, now in its fifth generation, led by cousins Andrea and Roman Strotz alongside fourth-generation Edgar Strotz.

Seven production staff turn out roughly 8,000 umbrellas a year at the Uznach workshop — about 2,000 to 4,000 of them rain umbrellas, the rest sun and garden umbrellas — with each piece built from around 300 components in about 40 minutes: fabric cut, panels stitched, handle assembled, snap buttons attached, final assembly by hand. Fabric comes from northern Italy where possible, frames from Asia, predominantly in impregnated polyester with natural fabrics available for special orders; enough of the value-adding work happens in Uznach to carry the Swiss Made label.

Since 2004, Strotz has also co-owned the internationally known Knirps compact-umbrella brand together with Austrian partner Doppler, with the two brands together selling around 700,000 umbrellas a year.