bavarikon4UTextile printing in Augsburg – Neue Augsburger Kattunfabrik
In the second half of the 18th century, Augsburg developed into the most important centre of economically very lucrative calico printing in southern Germany, which was driven by a growing consumption of printed cotton fabrics (calicoes). This technique of textile finishing had only found its way from India via Holland and England to the free imperial city as a transfer of knowledge three quarters of a century earlier. The "calico king" Johann Heinrich Schüle (1720-1811), who has already been discussed in detail in historical research, stood out among Augsburg’s entrepreneurs in the phase of proto-industrialisation, rising to become a textile printer of European standing from 1761 onwards. "Augsburger Zitz" (coloured calico), which was produced by about ten calico printers in the city, advanced to become a widely recognised term of quality under his leadership. In the slipstream of Schüle’s success, a new calico printing works was established in 1781 under the name Schöppler & Hartmann, which began production in 1783 and grew to a size of around 300 employees just a few years later. Its business strategies enabled the Schöppler & Hartmann factory soon to develop into serious competition for Schüle, until it was to rise to become by far the largest textile finishing company in the city in the 19th century. Fabric and dye purchasing as well as the sale of the finished fabrics all over the world linked the Augsburg company to global trade.
In 1880, the company was transformed from a family business into a public limited company and renamed "Augsburger Kattunfabrik". The name changed to "Neue Augsburger Kattunfabrik", or "NAK" for short, in 1885 as part of the public limited company’s reorganisation. Continuous technical innovations and the constant development of new designs (textile patterns) ensured the continued existence of the Augsburg company for another 100 years. It was not until 1996 that bankruptcy sealed the fate of Neue Augsburger Kattunfabrik and brought the company’s long history to a final end.
The swatch books, pattern drawings, many pattern-making tools and parts of the company archive are now part of the Staatliches Textil- und Industriemuseum Augsburg (tim – State Textile and Industrial Museum Augsburg).
The virtual exhibition provides an insight into Neue Augsburger Kattunfabrik’s history and the development of fabric printing in Augsburg in the 19th and 20th centuries.
