Our History

The history of HOPPE Group as it is today began in the town of Heiligenhaus near Düsseldorf, the German centre of the lock and fittings industry at the time. This is where Friedrich Hoppe met his family that had been displaced from Silesia after being a Soviet prisoner of war and founded an “independent company for contract grinding and the production of construction fittings” in 1952. Two years later, he transferred his business to Stadtallendorf near the Hessian university city of Marburg, laying the foundation for continued growth over the next few decades.

The Beginnings of the Company

1952-1962

1952

Friedrich Hoppe recognised the economic opportunities of the rebuilding efforts and founded the company on 5 November 1952 as an “independent company for contract grinding and production of building hardware”. His wife Agnes and his brother Herbert were at his side from the outset as his ‘first employees’.
1954

Friedrich Hoppe relocated the company’s headquarters to Allendorf (later Stadtallendorf) near Marburg, setting the course for the company’s expansion – far away from the established competition in Heiligenhaus.
1956

The company grew rapidly and Friedrich Hoppe built another plant in Bromskirchen near Frankenberg, 50 km away. The company began focussing on large-scale production of door and window handles.

Internationalisation

from 1964

1964

Instead of bringing people to work in Germany as so-called “guest workers”, Friedrich Hoppe took work to where it was needed and welcome: to Schluderns in South Tyrol, where he built the first plant outside Germany in 1964.
1971

The next HOPPE plant was built in Müstair, Switzerland. From there, the handle of excellence was marketed in the EFTA (European Free Trading Association) markets.

To this day, the site is primarily used for international marketing, and it was also a production site until 1983.
1972

In St. Martin in Passeier (South Tyrol), another production facility was set up, which initially manufactured aluminium fittings – as was the case at all production facilities until then. From 1980 onwards, the company switched to the production of brass fittings.
1975

The second plant in Stadtallendorf followed. Brass was used for the first time here.
1979

The goal was to make HOPPE’s handle of excellence known to the end users under the motto ‘the ambiance is in the details’ on doors and windows. HOPPE developed a brand product strategy, which also included developing a corporate design.

The first end-user advertising campaign was launched as part of this process.
1987

To expand capacity, a production facility was acquired in Laas (South Tyrol), renovated and designed for the production of plastic products.
1988

In Wolverhampton (UK), a sales company was established to serve the UK market.
1989

The “jump across the Atlantic” was made: HOPPE invested in an American trading company in Fort Atkinson (Wisconsin, USA) and took over the company in 1991.

Further Expansion

1990 to 2000

1991

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Friedrich Hoppe and his sons played an active role in building the free and social market economy in eastern Germany: In Crottendorf (Saxony), a former publicly owned company was taken over for the manufacture of architectural fittings. At the same time, HOPPE built a new production facility on the outskirts of the village, which was opened in 1993.
1992

Pioneering entrepreneur Friedrich Hoppe officially handed over the management of the HOPPE Group to his two sons Wolf and Christoph. Both had decided from the beginning to carry on with the business.
1993

The international HOPPE Group has been based in Müstair, Switzerland, since 1993.
1994

The HOPPE Group’s Research and Development Centre was established at the Laas site. One year later, the production facility was expanded to include a new production hall, where aluminium architectural fittings have been assembled ever since.
1995

At the Stadtallendorf production site, Plant 1 was converted to stainless steel architectural fitting production.
1996

The expansion continued: Not far from the HOPPE plant in Crottendorf, Saxony, another production facility for brass fittings was built in Chomutov (Czech Republic).
1996

The “HOPPE – Handle of excellence.” brand has been available to buy in DIY stores since 1996.
1997

HOPPE North America began production and assembly of special fitting solutions for the American market.
1997

HOPPE (UK) purchased Charter Hardware, one of the leading fittings dealers in England.
1998

From 1998, an advertising campaign for end users running over several years supported the marketing of Handle of excellence.

Consolidation

2000 to present

2002

To expand the global marketing, several international representative offices were established from 2002 onwards – in addition to the existing subsidiaries in France, Spain and China (Hong Kong).
2005

A production hall was built on the existing Plant 1 in Stadtallendorf and Plant 2 was relocated there. The two (too) small facilities were therefore replaced by one large, future-orientated production facility.
2005

The former President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Horst Köhler visited the HOPPE production facility in Crottendorf on 9 December 2005. In conversations with company owners and employees, he was impressed by the value-based and purpose-orientated management and by the future-orientated entrepreneurial and corporate image at HOPPE.
2012

The HOPPE Group restructured. In the following years, internal processes were optimised, relevant structures were created and the brand architecture was developed further.

The HOPPE Group corporate design underwent a careful modern overhaul to mark the 60th anniversary of the company.
2012

Christian Hoppe, son of Wolf Hoppe, officially joined the company as the first representative of the third generation.
2013

The Crottendorf production facility began the transformation into an assembly and logistics centre for the entire HOPPE Group.
2014

By signing a family charter, the entire entrepreneurial family set out rules designed to ensure the continued existence of HOPPE as an owner-managed family business in the coming generations.
2021

HOPPE established a Smart Home business division for the development, production and marketing of “smart” eHandles for doors and eHandles for windows in response to the increasing importance of networked technologies in buildings.
2021

A new business area for complementary brands expands the product and service range internationally with our ARRONE brand.