Volkart Brothers ( German: Gebrüder Volkart) colloquially Volkart Brothers Importers was a Swiss merchant company headquartered in

Winterthur, Switzerland Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

primarily trading in

colonial goods In economics, colonial goods are goods imported from European colonies, in particular coffee, tea, spices, rice, sugar, cocoa and chocolate, and tobacco. At a time when food and agriculture represented a relatively large proportion of overall ec ...

and

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

. Volkart was the fourth largest cotton merchant in the world, until its dissolution in 1989. Later the merchant activities merged into Paul Reinhart Ltd. Since 1951 there is the Volkart Foundation which retains the family name to this day. Founded in 1851, the company initially had offices in

Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

and

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

Indian Empire Indian Empire may refer to: * Maurya Empire (322 BCE – 185 BCE) * Gupta Empire ( 240– 550) * Chola Empire (848–1279) * Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) * Mughal Empire (1526–1857) * Sur Empire (1538–1555) * Maratha Empire (1674–1818) * ...

. There were subsidiaries in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

(1857),

Cochin Kochi ( , ), formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. The city is also commonly referred to as Ernaku ...

(1859),

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

(1861) and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

(1868). At its peak in 1926 it employed 7,600+ people worldwide.https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/041835/2024-03-06/

History

Two years after the repeal of the

Navigation Acts The Navigation Acts, or more broadly the Acts of Trade and Navigation, were a series of English laws that developed, promoted, and regulated English ships, shipping, trade, and commerce with other countries and with its own colonies. The laws al ...

for India, on February 1, 1851, the partnership Gebrüder Volkart was founded in

and

by Salomon Volkart and his brother Johann Georg Volkart. The trading company imported

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

oils An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturat ...

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

spices In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of pl ...

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Types of polyisoprene ...

, and other colonial products from India, exporting

soap Soap is a salt (chemistry), salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually u ...

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

matches A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

watches A watch is a Clock, timepiece carried or worn by a person. It is designed to maintain a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is worn around the wrist, attached by a watch strap or another typ ...

textiles Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

machinery A machine is a physical system that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolec ...

, and other industrial goods in return. The business flourished, expanding to

(1857),

(1859), and

(1861). In 1859, Villa Wehntal, became the headquarters of the firm in Winterthur prior to moving into the Noetzlihaus in 1864. When Johann Georg Volkart unexpectedly passed away in 1861, Salomon Volkart continued the business with non-family partners. This period saw the establishment of a subsidiary in

(1868). Due to political and economic challenges, frequent changes in leadership, and his declining health, Salomon Volkart withdrew from active business in 1875, remaining a silent partner until his death in 1893. The headquarters relocated again in 1879 to the former

Bank in Winterthur The Bank in Winterthur is one of the original predecessor banks to the Union Bank of Switzerland and ultimately UBS. Established in 1862, the bank merged with Toggenburger Bank in 1912 to form the Union Bank of Switzerland. History The Bank in W ...

building. In 1905, the company built its first administrative building, the Volkart-Haus, near Winterthur's main train station. Through the marriage of Lilly Volkart (1855–1916) to Theodor Reinhart, the business passed to the Reinhart family in 1912, who still oversee its operations today. By 1926, the company had 80 branches in India, making it Switzerland's primary representative there. The headquarters moved once more to Gebrüder Volkart building at St. Georgenplatz 2, near the station. The leadership returned to the Volkart-Haus in 1955. The sons of Theodor, Georg, and Werner, later joined the company, continuing their father's philanthropic efforts.

Mergers

In 1985, Andreas Reinhart took over the company, initiating an ambitious investment strategy that ultimately weakened the company. The company sold its coffee business to the Erb Group in 1989, operating under the name Volcafe thereafter. Until 1999, it was the world's fourth-largest cotton trader. The company also held a majority stake in the

Suhrkamp Verlag Suhrkamp Verlag is a German publishing house, established in 1950 and is generally acknowledged as one of the leading European publishers of fine literature. Its roots go back to the "arianized" part of the S. Fischer Verlag. In January 2010, ...

until 1999.

Recent activity

Today, Volkart's website only mentions its various foundations; the former trading giant is no longer active in business, apart from several investments.

References

{{Reflist Swiss companies disestablished in 1989 Swiss companies established in 1851