Pioneering spirit, innovation and technical excellence for people’s safety uvex group celebrates 100 years of success

The uvex group has every reason to celebrate. This year, the Fürth based company marks its 100th anniversary and looks back on an extraordinary success story. Since 1926, uvex has stood for pioneering spirit, innovative strength and, under the motto “protecting people”, a clear commitment to improving safety for people worldwide. This commitment is as relevant today as ever.

For decades, the uvex group has protected people at work, in sports and in leisure through innovative products, a wide range of services and modern digital solutions, all guided by its principle of “protecting people”. The first safety spectacles were used not only by workers and craftsmen but also in top class sports from an early stage. Today, more than 1,000 top athletes, including skiing aces Dominik Paris, Linus Strasser, Lena Dürr and Emma Aicher, the UCI Pro Team Cofidis and renowned equestrians such as Ingrid Klimke and Michael Jung, place their trust in uvex.

The uvex group's core business is occupational safety, which accounts for more than 80 per cent of sales. The uvex safety group offers a comprehensive range of personal protective equipment from head to toe and brings together the strong brands uvex, HexArmor, Heckel and laservision. Through intensive research and development, modern production processes and the use of sustainable materials, the uvex group continues to set new standards in functionality, design and comfort.

Milestones include the world’s lightest safety glasses at the time (2006, uvex super g, 18.7 grams), the first uvex anti fog ski goggles (1964, uvex champion) and innovative solutions such as the Bamboo TwinFlex protective glove and the HexArmor 9000 and Rig Lizard glove series. These demonstrate the company’s deep commitment to innovation and the potential that still lies ahead.

As it celebrates its 100th anniversary, the uvex group is deliberately looking ahead. Its vision is to continue shaping the future of occupational safety with strong innovative power, clear ambition and advanced technological expertise. The company will continue to pursue its goal of becoming the global market leader and making uvex premium products accessible to even more people worldwide. Its roots in Fürth and its long standing values remain unchanged, as does its guiding principle of “protecting people”, now supported by an even stronger focus on international growth and sustainable responsibility.

The acquisition of a majority stake by Warburg Pincus last year marked another significant milestone in the uvex group’s success story. Warburg Pincus is a global growth investor that recognised the uvex group’s excellent products, strong market position and attractive growth potential. Together, uvex and Warburg Pincus aim to develop the company into a leading global provider in the field of “protecting people” and further expand its international presence.

The Winter and Grau shareholder families fully support this direction. They remain on board with a significant minority stake and continue to play an active role in the company’s next phase of development.

The uvex group brings together four companies under one roof: the uvex safety group, the uvex sports group (uvex sports and Alpina), the Filtral group (Filtral and Primetta) and Protecting People GmbH for B2C operations. The uvex group is represented in 22 countries by 49 subsidiaries but chooses to do most of its manufacturing in Germany. As a partner of elite international sport, uvex equips countless top athletes around the globe. The guiding principle – protecting people – is the mission and the duty of the company. To this end, the uvex group develops, manufactures and distributes products and services for the protection of people in sports, leisure and at work.