The author of this article is Li Yu, edited and published by GentlemanFace.
Royal aristocratic descent, passed down for six generations.
A hundred years of ingenuity, highlighting the spirit of artisans.
ROECKL, a century-old royal brand from Germany, as the designated supplier of Bavarian royal family, inherits the traditional craftsmanship, selects high-quality characteristic raw materials from various countries, and creates a series of accessories with the green concept of sustainable development.
You can feel the craftsmanship of ROECKL, which has been rooted in the essence of gloves, bags, scarves, hats and other products. It is low-key and luxurious, generous and unobtrusive.
With the high-quality traditional production technology, ROECKL still has a high international reputation among the high-end accessories and is favored.
The royal logo awarded to the brand is now displayed at ROECKL's headquarters in Munich, Germany.
1839, the founder Jakob Roeckl founded a glove making studio in Munich and provided retail services. His original intention was to create a luxurious glove art with traditional handicrafts.
With years of exquisite skills, strict selection of materials, elegant design and fine production, ROECKL's glove products quickly swept the German upper class and were deeply sought after by princes and nobles.
The legend of Locar is written here.
Until 1870, Rockel, Jacob's son, built a huge factory with 1000 employees in the south of Munich at that time, and was even called "Rockel Palace" by the locals.
This move also laid the foundation for ROECKL's future success, making it the second largest company in Munich, with specialty stores all over the country, such as Berlin, Frankfurt and Cologne.
Christian Rockel (top left) and Rockall's employees at that time.
When 24-year-old Heinrich Roeckl inherited his father's business, he decided to further expand the company's retail business and export it to the United States. 1893, ROECKL officially ushered in its most popular era as it was officially designated as a supplier of Bavaria, Romania and other royal families.
You know, at that time, even King Ludwig II of Bavaria and Queen Elizabeth of Austria, who were famous for their fanatical pursuit of art, had a soft spot for ROECKL's gloves.
Heinrich Locar (top), Ludwig II (bottom left) and Queen Elizabeth.
However, things are unpredictable. Who would have expected that ROECKL's business situation plummeted after World War II, and many buildings of the company were hit hard in the war. At the worst time, only one store can continue to operate.
At this time, Heinrich Fraser Locke (Jr.), the fourth-generation helmsman, was ordered to take over the company, and began to resume the production and sales of the company's products, and gradually expanded the franchise scale of Rockel, finally returning it to the leading position in German glove manufacturing.
Speaking of one of the milestones in the 20th century, 1966 Stefan ROECKL, who took over the management right, used his newly invented patented glove cutting technology to produce sports gloves that performed well in equestrian, skiing and other sports, further establishing ROECKL's position in the industry.
Stefan Roeckl (upper left) and sports gloves made of patented technology.
Now, since Annette Roeckl, the sixth generation descendant of the Roeckl family, took over the business and became the creative director in 2003, her female vision has brought the brand market insight with the times.
In addition to reshaping the store image, she also expanded the company's product range, perfectly combined gloves with scarves, bags and other accessories, and transformed ROECKL from a workshop focusing on hand-made luxury gloves into a high-end accessories brand with broader vision and diversified products.
Annette Locar, the sixth-generation helmsman of this famous German leather glove manufacturer, once said, "Although computers and machines make products with an error-free rate of 100%, hand-made products are often accompanied by some imperfections, which makes them unique and valuable."
In the manufacturing history of 182, ROECKL still insisted on making each glove by hand, and the uniqueness of this point is mainly reflected in the fact that a glove has 24 different parts that need to be sewn by hand, accounting for more than 2,000 stitches.
Producing three pairs a day means that an experienced old craftsman needs to repeat the same action at least 6000 times a day. That's why ROECKL's gloves are so beautiful. When worn on your hands, they fit your hands like a second layer of skin. In addition to improving warmth, they also allow hands to move freely.
Johannes Teucher, for example, is one of the few glove craftsmen in the current brand, and the last batch of craftsmen in Germany who focus on handmade gloves.
Johannes Teucher demonstrated the first step of making gloves: stretching the latitude of the leather to prevent a position from loosening due to a lot of activities during use.
It took him eight years to change from an apprentice to a craftsman. "Joining the apprentice class begins with interest. I like handmade, not the unchanging life of office white-collar workers. " Johannes Teucher said, "Until now, we are still using the traditional production technology of 100 years ago."
ROECKL is one of the few brands in the world who have mastered making gloves from the skins of wild animals Xi Cong (commonly known as "South American wild boar") in the Amazon basin of South America.
Here is a simple science popularization. Xi Cong is actually a pig-shaped animal distributed in the American continent. Its appearance and habits are very similar to those of wild boar. They are usually smaller than wild boars, with only three toes on their hind legs, thick manes and long teeth.
However, contrary to wild boar, Xi Cong's tusks are exposed downwards, and they like to eat fruits and tubers, and sometimes eat some insects, so they belong to omnivores. Accustomed to group life, the number of a group can be as high as hundreds, and the fighting capacity is extremely strong, and almost no one dares to provoke it in the South American continent.
The leather of Xi 'an leather has very high requirements on processing, cutting and sewing technology, and the products made have good flexibility and wear resistance.
This is a pair of Xiqiao leather gloves that have been used intensively for 6 years. Users will wear it when weeding and working in the garden, which is a bit of a violent strength test, but it can be seen that the leather has not been torn. Then under normal use conditions such as driving, we naturally don't use gloves to reveal such violent "use marks" as in the picture.
Compared with the common animal skin, this kind of "wild boar skin" is quite solid in texture, but it has excellent tensile strength and resilience, which can provide excellent tactile sensitivity and flexibility for finger movement. So many pilots and racers will choose wild boar leather gloves as their first choice.
Even the unlined "little boar skin" gloves still make you feel warm and comfortable skin experience.
Contrary to this delicate feel, this South American "small wild boar skin" often presents a rough appearance. It has a unique pore structure, and three small pores are arranged as a group to form a texture pattern.
In addition, the holes and scars left by Xi Cong in the wild can also be used as one of the basis for identifying the authenticity of "small wild boar skin".
Almost every piece of Xiqiao skin is riddled with holes, and there are few holes and scars on this skin.
Nowadays, we can only find "small boar skin" gloves in some high-end luxury specialty stores in Europe, but the quantity is also very small.
It is worth mentioning that ROECKL's gloves do not need to rely on maintenance oil for care during use. On the contrary, it will block the pores of leather, harden gloves and reduce their service life.
Of course, in addition to the "wild boar skin" gloves, ROECKL also has different materials and styles of glove products for everyone to choose from. Whether you are a gentleman player or a cycling enthusiast, people who are usually interested in leather products may wish to feel the handmade charm of this century-old royal brand. I believe you will not be disappointed.
Finally, I will show you some early posters. It can be said that everyone is a witness to the brand history.
"The future needs culture to support it. Without culture, we are no different from animals. "
This sentence is almost the creed that German handicraft enterprises have adhered to from generation to generation, and it is also one of the magic weapons that support them to become an indispensable part of "Made in Germany" after countless years and market tests.