Company

Our mission is to make everyone happier through healthy sleep by enabling them to experience a nightly wellness spa with HEFEL products.

We achieve this through innovative, environmentally-sustainable and health-promoting products, which are created by qualified, friendly and committed employees, produced in Austria for our love of quality and marketed worldwide, based on the uncompromisingly honest and enduring values of a traditional family business.

HEFEL Textil is one of the most successful and innovative producers of bedding in Europe and a market leader for natural bedding products. Established in 1907, HEFEL remains a family firm and is proud of its successful track record that goes back more than 100 years. HEFEL is well known for its unique innovations and first-class products of the highest quality.

All HEFEL products are 100% Made in Austria and impress with their luxurious fabrics and special fillings based on natural raw materials. The fully integrated production process - weaving, finishing, carding, quilting, design and sewing - takes place at both Austrian factories in Schwarzach and Kefermarkt to ensure decisive superiority in quality, speed and service.

TICKING WEAVING MILL AT SCHWARZACH (VORARLBERG)

Finest down batiste and feather/fibre-proof fabrics destined for sale by the metre or made up into shells are produced at the HEFEL ticking weaving mill in Schwarzach. The ticking mill was founded in 1936 and over the years has set some impressive standards in fabric manufacturing and finishing.

Schwarzach is located in the economically prosperous area where the borders of Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein meet and is surrounded by an unspoilt natural landscape that stretches from Lake Constance to Arlberg.

QUILT MANUFACTURE AT KEFERMARKT (UPPER AUSTRIA)

HEFEL acquired the quilted comforter manufacture in Kefermarkt in 1972 and it is here that the entire range of quilted bedding products with premium animal hair, natural fibre and special functional fibre fillings is manufactured.

Kefermarkt lies in the heart of the Mühlviertel, one of four regions that make up the Federal Province of Upper Austria.

100% Made in Austria - for our love of quality

Today, as in times gone by, HEFEL bedding products are 100% made in Austria - at two sites in Schwarzach (Vorarlberg) and Kefermarkt (Upper Austria). This is as much an integral part of the corporate culture as the employment of highly qualified specialist staff, many of whom have worked for HEFEL for several generations. With a great deal of experience, care and skill they produce and check every single HEFEL comforter - piece by piece.

1907

• Founding of the "Schiffli Embroidery Company" by Josef Anton Hefel

The early years

• Expansion of the business into bobbin lace-making.
• Johann Hefel, nephew of the founder, joins Hefel & Co
• Johann Hefel becomes sole owner of the HEFEL textile works
• Founding of the ticking mill

From 1960 to 1990

• Important milestones in the fabric finishing and ready-made sectors
• Johann Hefel's sons, Josef, Robert and Hans Hefel, assume the management of Johann HEFEL OHG
• Purchase of the quilt factory in Kefermarkt
• All looms are replaced by automatic weaving machines
• Company becomes HEFEL Textil Aktiengesellschaft 

The eventful 1990s

• Dr. Dietmar Hefel becomes Chairman of the Board of HEFEL Textil AG
• Introduction of the strategy of product innovation and product differentiation
• Introduction of "organic cotton" bedding, 100% cotton from controlled organic cultivation
• Presented with the "Austrian Award for First Class Business"
• Introduction of the world-wide innovation "HEFEL Lyocell Batiste", the first quilt made from wood
• HEFEL becomes the TENCEL® pioneer worldwide

From 2000 to 2007

• Award BEST NEW PRODUCT 2001 for Lyocell und 2002 for SeaCell at the New York Home Textile Show
• First satin bed linen in 100 % Micro-Lyocell
• Inauguration of the new finishing plant in Schwarzach
• HEFEL Textil AG is divided into HEFEL Realvermögen AG and HEFEL Textil GmbH

Since 2007 - 100 Years of HEFEL Textil

• HEFEL Textil presents new bedding products with Pine Stone filling
• HEFEL introduces its down bedding range
• HEFEL bedding becomes GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified
• Development of the neck support pillow and special pillow ranges
• HEFEL becomes the new partner of the Austria Ski Team (ÖSV)
• Managing directors Dr. Dietmar Hefel and Mag. Ulrike Hefel jointly lead the company into the future
• The entire bed linen collection is produced using the exclusive digital printing process
• Wellness Zirbe all-year comforter is rated “Very Good” by Öko-Test magazine
• Introduction of the new shop concept
• 20 years of HEFEL Organic Cotton products

THE FIRM'S BASIC PRINCIPLES

We are the most innovative firm in the bedding sector

We set the trends by technical leadership and creativity in all branches of our company's activities. Our visions today are the market trends of tomorrow.

We achieve the best product quality

We do not compromise when it comes to the use of the best raw materials and resources. The combination of exceptionally skilled employees and continuous quality controls enables us to guarantee the highest standards of product quality.

We are totally customer-focussed

We have the ability to perform the services we have promised reliably and precisely. We meet our customers' requirements and are intent on assisting them with our prompt service. To this partnership we bring our know-how and the relevant abilities and with our commitment we build trust and confidence.

We are quickest of the market

We deliver to our markets in the quickest possible time, more quickly than any of our competitors. The questions, wishes and suggestions of our customers are replied to by return. This is achieved by treating all incoming tasks immediately and aiming for the quickest possible implementation.

OUR GREATEST ASSET

The greatest asset of HEFEL Textil GmbH are its loyal and highly qualified employees, many of whom have already worked for the company for decades. Celebrations to mark 20 or 30 years of service are not uncommon.

Our employees demonstrate great flexibility and innovative capability by their constant search for even better (and often unconventional) solutions. Continuous training and further education programmes ensure that our highly qualified team always keeps abreast of the latest developments, whether they relate to technological advances, environmental considerations or manual skills. Only in this way can we guarantee that our bedding will meet the highest standards of quality and functionality in years to come.

CERTIFIED QUALITY TO MEET THE HIGHEST STANDARDS

HEFEL attaches the highest importance to the flawless quality of raw materials and perfect processing, right down to the smallest detail. Every purchased yarn is immediately inspected on receipt. Only then is it processed in the weaving mill where the master weaver constantly monitors every stage of production. The raw materials control process checks the fabrics for warp and weft defects. After sewing is complete the finished products are again inspected for sewing faults before being carefully packed. In addition to in-house control procedures numerous certifications demonstrate the unique standard of quality such as GOTS in our organic program or FAIRTRADE-certified cotton in our KlimaControl Fair bedding products.

HEFEL SUSTAINABILITY

You can have a clear conscience when you sleep in HEFEL bedding, because HEFEL demonstrates its responsibility towards future generations by the sustainable approach of its entire bedding manufacturing operation. The intelligent use of raw materials, the careful production processes, short transportation routes due to 100% production in Austria and the socially responsible work environment of its employees are all interconnected at HEFEL’s. Today HEFEL is proud to be the only bedding manufacturer in the world to produce all its products in-house.

AN IMPORTANT PART OF OUR CORPORATE PHILOSOPHY

Social responsibility is integral to HEFEL's corporate philosophy, as important as purchasing sustainable raw materials, sustainable production methods, sustainable products and acting as a responsible employer.

We support disadvantaged people and people in need with a number of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. The most important of these are regular donations of products for projects run by charitable organisations and institutions.

Some of the organisations we have supported in recent years include:

Providing the gift of warmth for Ukraine

The war in Ukraine has left us all speechless and shocked. Countless private initiatives, in addition to many NGOs, are trying to alleviate the greatest need. The parish of the Greek-Catholic church of St. Barbara in Vienna is committed to helping and is collecting bedding for a tent camp in western Ukraine for internally displaced persons. HEFEL is contributing to their efforts by donating 150 comforters and pillows for Ukrainian war refugees. https://st-barbara-austria.org

1,000 comforters for Caritas Austria

HEFEL donates 1,000 new comforters worth 75,000 Euros to CARITAS Austria. http://www.caritas.at

Dr. Michael Landau, President of Caritas Austria: "Companies such as Hefel, who set a good example and use their core business to support people in need, are indispensable partners of Caritas. This generous donation will be distributed in Caritas institutions throughout Austria among children, young people, women and men, who find themselves in crisis situations."

Bedding for the Sonneninsel care centre for children with cancer

Sonneninsel near Salzburg is Austria's first centre to provide psychosocial support for children and young people with cancer and their families. It was established in cooperation with the Austrian children's cancer charity Kinderkrebshilfe and the Lions Clubs in Austria. HEFEL supplies, free of charge, top quality comforters, pillows and mattress toppers for all beds in the therapy centre. http://www.sonneninsel.at

Bed linen for the Elisabethinum in Axams

The Elisabethinum in Tyrol is the biggest organisation supporting children with physical/multiple disabilities in the west of Austria. HEFEL donates 200 bed linen sets which benefit all the SLW sites (Elisabethinum, Haus Franziskus Innsbruck and Bubenburg Fügen). https://www.slw.at/index.php/was/slw-elisabethinum

A truckload of children's bedding for Albania

In 1992 the Province of Vorarlberg began a major aid campaign for Albania, which continues to this day with the considerable support and personal commitment of many participants. HEFEL has contributed by donating one truckload of children's bedding (1,080 sets with a retail value of 65,000 Euros). http://www.projekt-albanien.at/de/

The HEFEL management board: "We are convinced that the work of non-profit organisations deserves support as without a sense of solidarity between the strong and the weak our social structures rapidly become unbalanced. We wish to make our contribution in this area."