Origins and Values
We have been making history for over 90 years – Velener Textil, or ‘the Velener’ for short. A brilliant team of around 110 truly excellent employees, modern machinery featuring the latest weaving and spinning technology, and plenty of inventive spirit.
As an industrial enterprise, we nevertheless see ourselves as a genuine family business – and not just in terms of our shareholder structure. Team spirit, reliability and honesty are of the utmost importance to us. This also applies to our collaboration with you, our customers. After all, textile innovation and continuous development can only flourish where people can work together openly, constructively and as equals.
For us, this sense of responsibility also extends to our use of energy, water and raw materials. That is why we continuously invest in more efficient technology, resource conservation and textile solutions that make the most sensible use of existing materials.
Like any company, we too want to secure our future. Anyone who is part of our team should have a secure job, feel valued for their work and receive a decent wage. And because this only works if we can hold our own against the competition, our course is clear: quality leadership in products, production processes and service.
Velener Textil: A Woven History
The history of Velener Textil tells the story of the major upheavals in the German textile industry, of automation and innovation, and of how a family-run business can hold its own in a highly competitive market.
A Family Affair
The company was founded in 1933 by Anton Wevers and Bernhard Grimmelt as Velener Textilwerk Grimmelt, Wevers & Co. OHG. In 1934, Josef Spanderen joined the business. It was these three families who made Velener so successful over the following decades.
In 1990, the textile works were converted into a limited liability company (GmbH) and renamed Velener Textil GmbH in 2011. Yet we remain a family-run business: following the departure in 2010 of Anton Wevers, an heir to the company’s founder, our firm was led by Bernd Spanderen and Ernst Grimmelt.
In 2026, Thomas Spanderen succeeded his father, meaning that, alongside Ernst Grimmelt, the third generation of the family is now active in the management of the company.
No progress without drive
Innovations are firmly woven into our company’s history, enabling our products to continue to hold their own: as early as 1956, the weaving mill was converted to automatic looms. Two years later, our first in-house spinning mill was completed. The first rapier looms followed in 1970, and the factory was fully converted to these by 1990. Today, we use air-jet and rapier looms in widths ranging from 190 cm to 360 cm.
Gradually, the old textile mill became too small for us. In 1980, we therefore built new halls in the Velen industrial estate, and our company relocated there in its entirety. The spinning mill was also redesigned at the same time. Since then, we have continued to invest in product development, new machinery and modern production processes. We have had a high-bay warehouse since 2001. Most recently, we have thoroughly modernised our weaving workshop and, to this end, acquired an additional building on the opposite side of Industriestraße. Among other things, this building now houses the new weaving workshop – equipped with modern technology, short transport routes and water recovery systems.