What Winter & Company does

Winter & Company is a Swiss family-owned designer and manufacturer of creative cover materials serving the global packaging and publishing industry. Founded in 1892 in Basel and now headquartered in Münchenstein, Switzerland, the company is in its fourth generation of family ownership under CEO Sandra Kottenauer and Group CFO Severin Sturzenegger. The portfolio spans more than 1,300 branded cover materials organized into sub-brands such as Skivertex, Wibalin, Ecorel, Pellaq, Chamel, Corvon, Nabuka, Welino, Wintan, Coloursource, Satin Ocean, Toile Ocean, and Velours Recycled — covering artificial leather, book cloth, coated paper, synthetic leather, suede imitation, and specialty textiles. Distribution combines wholly-owned subsidiaries (e.g., Hong Kong since 1995, Shenzhen, Winter & Company Italy rebranded from Fontana Grafica in 2026, UK paper logistics and converting center in Huntingdon) with a network of local distributors and agents across 40+ countries.

The company's core technology positions it as a sustainability-led specialty materials producer. Its proprietary Winter Wrup-Cycling process upcycles waste materials (tannery waste, recycled ocean plastic, recycled polyester) into cover materials. The Toile Ocean range — developed with #tide ocean SA — is positioned as the world's first book cloth made from recycled ocean-bound plastic, and Satin Ocean extends the franchise into a new substrate. Certifications include FSC (C007992, INT-COC-001464), REACH compliance, EUDR compliance, a proprietary Vegan label, OekoTex (select products), and UN Global Compact membership. Digital infrastructure includes the Application Viewer (photorealistic 3D material visualization), a Product Selector covering 1,300+ articles, and a dedicated UK e-commerce webshop for Coloursource launched in March 2026.

Winter & Company operates a B2B, one-time-sale revenue model: physical cover materials are sold to publishers, bookbinders, packaging producers, and luxury brands across publishing, luxury packaging, visual merchandising, premium packaging, and stationery end-markets. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; sales occur through direct enterprise sales teams, regional distributors/agents, and a limited direct-to-consumer e-commerce channel for Coloursource in the UK mainland. Custom material development is offered as a collaborative service for clients requiring bespoke designs. Production scale spans 6,100+ stock items across 321 colors, with flagship brand Wibalin used in over 1.5 billion book covers, 250 million rigid boxes, and 10 million paper bags cumulatively.

Name

Winter & Company

Legal name

WINTER & COMPANY AG

Website

https://winter-company.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1892

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Winter & Company is a Swiss family-owned designer and manufacturer (founded 1892) of creative cover materials — artificial leather, book cloth, coated paper, and synthetic leather — for the global packaging and publishing industry, offering 1,300+ products across 40+ countries through its own subsidiaries and distributor network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Basel

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Cover Material Sales: Winter & Company generates revenue through the sale of physical cover materials to publishers, bookbinders, packaging producers, and luxury brands worldwide. Products are sold through direct sales teams, regional distributors/agents, and an e-commerce webshop for certain product lines.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Winter & Company designs, manufactures, and globally distributes specialty cover materials — including book cloth, coated paper, artificial leather, suede-like and synthetic-leather materials, and textile alternatives — for the publishing, bookbinding, luxury packaging, and visual merchandising industries. The portfolio spans 1,300+ products across 321 colours with 6,100+ items held in stock, sold under proprietary registered brands such as Skivertex®, Wibalin®, Pellaq®, COLOURSOURCE®, and CHAMEL®. Customers reach the company through direct sales subsidiaries, regional distributors/agents, an online Product Selector, and a UK-focused Coloursource webshop.

Product overview

Winter & Company is a global supplier of innovative and sustainable cover materials for the packaging and publishing industry. The company offers over 1,300 cover materials available directly from stock, serving customers in over 40 countries through subsidiaries and distributors. Their product portfolio spans multiple material types including suede-like materials (CHAMEL®, KAMOSHO®), papers (COLOURSOURCE®, Wibalin®, Ecorel®, Welino®), leather alternatives (Pellaq®, Skivertex®, Redel®), metal-look products (Corvon® Metal-X, Corvon® Senzo), sustainable ocean plastics (TOILE OCEAN, SATIN OCEAN), textiles (Velours Recycled, Toile Canvas), and specialty lines (Nakura®, Nappan®, Quinel®, Winlay®). Digital tools include an Application Viewer for photorealistic material visualization and dedicated webshops. The company focuses on three core values: Creativity, Guidance, and Trust, with a strong commitment to sustainability through their Winter Wrup-Cycling upcycling program and FSC/REACH certifications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Skivertex® Artificial leather cover material registered as a brand in 1967; one of Winter & Company's founding branded products that established industry standards for creative cover materials used in bookbinding and luxury packaging.
• Wibalin® Uncoated, dyed-through book cloth available in 50 colours, 9 embossings and 5 grammages; used for book covers, rigid boxes and paper bags and made in the Lake District, UK.
• Ecorel® Environmentally friendly coated paper introduced in 1991; available in multiple embossings (Chevo, Fibra, Levant, Morocco, Skiver) for book covers and packaging.
• Pellaq® Leather-like cover material brand including Croco, Glean, Iguana, Lizard and Mallory textures; established industry standard for premium book and packaging covers.
• CHAMEL® Suede-like family of cover materials including Recycled Prestige, Recycled Selection and Selection variants; designed for luxury packaging and visual merchandising.
• COLOURSOURCE® Vibrant coloured paper range manufactured in the UK by James Cropper with worldwide exclusive distribution by Winter & Company; 50 colours across three grammages, EUDR compliant and FSC certified.
• Corvon® Synthetic leather product line including Metal-X variants (Brush, Diago, Dimple, Hammered, Rugged, Weave), Iridescents, Mano, Pure Mano, Rust, Senzo, Shimmer and Carbon-X, designed for luxury and visual merchandising packaging.
• Toile Ocean World's first book cloth woven from recycled ocean plastic, co-developed with #tide ocean SA; available in 10 natural colours with 1% of turnover donated to clean water projects.
• Satin Ocean Luxurious satin fabric cover material made from 51% recycled ocean-bound plastic in collaboration with #tide ocean SA; targeted at luxury packaging, watch and jewellery boxes and visual merchandising.
• Nabuka® Premium cover material line including Metallic, standard, Prestige and Recycled variants; part of the Winter Wrup-Cycling sustainable collection.
• Suedel® Luxe Suede imitation cover material including Recycled (from recycled cotton and paper fibres) and standard Suedel Luxe variants.
• Silktouch Silk-like cover material line including Nuba and Yana Thermo variants; vegan and REACH-compliant.
• Wintan® Cover material line including Cervo, Extras, Hydra Thermo, Lhasa, Natural Palma, Oporto, Palma, Safia and Vintage variants, introduced in the 1990s as part of Winter & Company's sustainable materials expansion.
• Novalite® Cover material line including Crushed Leather, Emotions, Melody, Nuvola and Plano variants.
• Velours Recycled Velvet cover material made from recycled waste plastic bottles; part of the Winter Wrup-Cycling sustainable collection.
• Welino® Coated paper cover material with two distinct surfaces (Reverso variant) and natural variants, available in 12 colours, for premium packaging and stationery applications.
• Wibalin® Recycled Sustainable uncoated dyed-through book cloth made with 100% recycled fibres in 21 colours with multiple embossings and grammages; part of the Winter Wrup-Cycling collection.
• Wibalin® Board 320 gsm dyed-through board from the Wibalin family available in 12 vibrant colours with a new Buckram embossing, suitable for folding boxes, paperback books, premium packaging and stationery.
• COLOURSOURCE® Webshop Dedicated online ordering platform for Coloursource products offering all 50 colours across three grammages directly from stock for delivery within the UK mainland.

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• #tide ocean SAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWinter & Company partnered with Swiss company #tide ocean SA to develop Toile Ocean — the world's first book cloth woven from recycled ocean-bound plastic. #tide collects and sorts plastic waste from coastal regions in Southeast Asia, processes it into granules via a mechanical process, and spins it into yarn used in Toile Ocean and Satin Ocean. Winter & Company donates 1% of Toile Ocean and Satin Ocean sales to clean water projects. The partnership is central to Winter & Company's ocean plastic sustainability initiative.
• James CroppercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJames Cropper is a heritage mill located on a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the English Lake District. Winter & Company holds worldwide exclusive distribution rights for Coloursource, a coloured paper range manufactured by James Cropper. The partnership is built on 50 years of collaboration and deep paper-making expertise. Coloursource is EUDR compliant, FSC certified (FSC-C007992), and made using natural water sources.
• WeForestminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWinter & Company partners with WeForest for global tree-planting initiatives. Projects include reforestation in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, the Luanshya district in Zambia's Copperbelt, and the Khasi Hills in India's Meghalaya ecoregion. These initiatives are part of Winter & Company's commitment to climate protection and environmental responsibility.
• myclimateminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWinter & Company supports a myclimate project in Uganda as part of its 1% for Clean Water initiative, contributing to both clean water access and climate protection. This is funded by 1% of Toile Ocean and Satin Ocean sales.
• FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)coreOthersWinter & Company is FSC-certified (registration number INT-COC-001464). FSC certification supports the company's commitment to environmentally responsible sourcing of wood-based materials. Many Winter & Company products carry FSC certification.
• UN Global Compact (GCNS)coreOthersWinter & Company is a member of the UN Global Compact and the Swiss network (GCNS), committing to the convention's principles on human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Ecological Fibers: US-based manufacturer of book cloth, vinyl cover materials, and specialty substrates for publishing and luxury packaging; closely comparable to Winter & Company's core cover materials portfolio in product mix and customer base.
• FibreMark: Manufacturer of specialty cover materials and decorative substrates for bookbinding, luxury packaging, and display applications; comparable in product mix, customer base, and sustainability positioning to Winter & Company.
• James Cropper: UK-based specialty paper manufacturer and Winter & Company's exclusive manufacturing partner for Coloursource; directly comparable in premium paper grades, sustainability certifications, and publishing/luxury packaging customers.
• Favini: Italian specialty paper manufacturer with sustainable and decorative paper grades for packaging, publishing, and luxury applications; comparable in material portfolio and European luxury customer overlap to Winter & Company Italy.

Broad incumbents

• Fedrigoni: Italian specialty paper group (over EUR 1B revenue) producing labels, packaging, and publishing-grade papers; a much larger incumbent operating across more product categories and geographies than Winter & Company but serving overlapping luxury and publishing customers.
• Arjowiggins: European fine and specialty paper manufacturer of creative papers, security papers, and packaging substrates; overlaps with Winter & Company in publishing and luxury packaging customers but operates a much broader and larger portfolio.
• Neenah: US-based specialty substrate manufacturer (now part of SWM) serving packaging, printing, and technical markets at significantly larger scale than Winter & Company, including acquired specialty cover material brands such as FibreMark.

Emerging players

• Gruppo Cordenons: Italian specialty paper maker focused on premium cover and packaging grades for publishing and luxury applications; smaller and more focused than Fedrigoni, with comparable positioning to Winter & Company Italy in the Italian luxury packaging market.

Others

• Conceria Pasubio: Italian leather manufacturer supplying leather for fashion, footwear, and accessories; an adjacent material supplier with a shared customer base in the Italian luxury packaging ecosystem but no direct product overlap with Winter & Company's cover materials.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/winter-&-company
• Instagraminstagram.com/wintercompany_group
• Xx.com/WinterandCoUK

Compliance8 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles16 records

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Winter & Company