Melchers China Invited to the Opening of Freudenberg Group’s 175th Anniversary Exhibition in Shanghai
On August 16, Freudenberg Group held the opening ceremony of its 175th anniversary celebration at the Hengfu Art Center in Shanghai with the theme “Curious since 1849”. As Freudenberg’s earliest partner in China, Melchers was honored to be invited to attend this milestone celebration and share the history of the two multinational German companies’ joint development of the Chinese market a century ago.
Only one year after China’s economic reform and opening up in 1978, Freudenberg took its first steps into the Chinese market, initially through indirect distribution. The Melchers Group established a distribution partnership with Freudenberg for leather goods in China as early as 1923, which was gradually extended to include footwear, and since 1979 Melchers has been Freudenberg’s exclusive agent for leather goods and footwear in China. Although Freudenberg has now transformed itself into a global technology group and has no longer produced leather goods, the partnership with Melchers played a key role in Freudenberg’s early development in the Chinese market.
As a former partner of Freudenberg, Melchers is proud to have participated in and witnessed the development of Freudenberg in China. At the opening ceremony, Mr. Claus Toxvig, CEO of Melchers China, paid tribute to Freudenberg’s outstanding achievements in China and exchanged corporate history books to commemorate the partnership.
Melchers has been doing business with China for 158 years since 1866 when we established our Asian branch in Hong Kong. Melchers is committed to being a trusted partner in business development across multiple industries, applications and regions. It is our mission to create long-term value through customer-centric and customized approaches to support the success of our partners in China and Asian markets.
