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The company can trace its history back to 1894. Then
on the present site of
Veliko Tarnovo
production facility a big workshop for dying textiles
and manufacturing of kerchiefs
was built.
Later, in 1906 a shoes producers’ cooperative society
was found there, too. On
March 22, 1914,
one of the cooperative members
restructured the business and Zlati
Zlatev
& Sons factory started to produce
pressed yellow and gray felt for cavalry saddles and artillery and
special woolen shoes for the Army. During the 20’s the manufacturing
of felt hats and fezzes started.
The years 1938-1940
are
notable for
the first
industrial boom
of the factory. In 1941 it became a member of the Italian Chamber of
Commerce.
After
World War II the first attempts at mastering the
manufacture of fine gasket felt,
rough and fine felt disks used in machine construction
were made. The manufacture of felt caps were successfully mastered
and about 700 000 pieces of them were annually produced.
In this period the factory was nationalized.
In
1953 two companies – “Mincho Topalov“
located in
Rousse
and First Bulgarian Felt Hat Factory of Zlatev
& Sons merged into a new entity, thus forming
the state owned enterprise
“Vasil Levski“ which specialized in the
production of all kinds of technical felt materials, caps and hats.
During the period 1973-1977 the company was restructured
and modernized, specializing in the production of needlepunched
non-woven textiles made of man-made and natural fibers. The period
1988-1989 is known by the highest achievements in the
company’s history, recording 95 % utilization of
the
production
equipment, wide range of products, working on 2 and 3 shifts, 38 % of
the production is bound for export, the number of employees exceeds
380 people, etc.
In 1989 the factory is transformed into a state owned joint stock
company named after Arbanassi thus being prepared for privatization.
After some years of difficulties, during the years 1997-1998
the company was totally privatized as a joint stock company. |
