Waldhausen

In 1836, Anton Waldhausen opened a saddlery in the city of Cologne and with this he set the beginning for a long and successful company history.

It was Anton Waldhausen’s declared aim to make products of excellent quality available at the best possible price-performance ratio. He set up a specialty shop in Cologne as early as 1850s and supplied the European nobility all over Europe with his premium saddles and tack. Soon Waldhausen saddles become famous for their extraordinary quality.        

Henri Waldhausen, Anton’s son, a farsighted merchant expanded the product range to other leather equipment and luggage. A contract for the serial production of car luggage brought the chance to take root in the emerging automotive market. When Henri’s sons Toni and Hans Waldhausen took over, they expanded the specialty shop yet again and also enlarged the production site by adding a manufactory in Cologne. In 1895 Waldhausen was the largest saddlery- and leather retail outlet in Germany. Its marble and glass store front were rated the most spectacular and classy in Cologne.

Waldhausen’s success and quality products became widely known as the company supplied various royal houses and nobility as purveyor to the court. Unfortunately, the production site as well as the shop were completely destroyed in WWII. It was Ernst Albrecht Assenmacher Senior who rebuilt the company and set the focus once again on equestrian equipment. When his son, Ernst Albrecht Assenmacher Junior took over the company enjoyed a strong growth and Waldhausen became well known as a leading supplier of equestrian goods.

In recent years, Waldhausen has developed into an international wholesaler under the management of the chief executive officers Klaus Reinken and Michael Manefeld. With its own brands E·L·T, SWING and Waldhausen, as well as distributor for famous brands such as Wintec, Beris, GPA and Likit, Waldhausen is one of the largest wholesale retailers in the equestrian market. More than 15.000 products are available in more than 70 countries all over the world. Until today the company is faithful to Anton Waldhausen’s statement: Offering premium quality products at an excellent price-performance ratio.