Graf
Graf + Cie AG is a Swiss subsidiary of Rieter Group and a global supplier of card clothing, flexible flats, and combs for short- and long-staple spinning mills, nonwoven producers, and machine builders, operating five manufacturing sites and 60 agents worldwide.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1917
- HeadquartersRapperswil, Switzerland
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Graf does
Graf + Cie AG is a Swiss-headquartered manufacturer of card clothing and combs for the textile industry, operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rieter Group since 2005. Founded in Rapperswil in 1917 (with roots dating to 1774), the company designs and produces metallic card clothing, flexible flats, stationary flats, and top and circular combs used in carding and combing machines for short- and long-staple spinning, as well as metallic card clothing for nonwoven production. Its product portfolio includes branded innovations such as the TUCAN metallic card clothing with Swiss Engineered tooth geometry enabling grinding-free operation, the HYPERTOP C-60 flexible flat with a patented multizone setting pattern, and dedicated card clothing packages for recycled fiber processing.
The company operates five manufacturing locations across Switzerland, the Netherlands, Brazil, the United States, and Hong Kong, supported by a global network of approximately 60 agents and resellers. Revenue is generated primarily through direct hardware sales of consumable card clothing and comb components to spinning mills, nonwoven producers, and machine builders, complemented by after-sales accessories and service packages. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales with globally deployed technical specialists, augmented by international exhibition participation and the SPINNOVATION customer magazine. Approximately half of the 51-100 employees are based in Switzerland, and the business benefits from high vertical integration in steel and elastomer processing underpinning its "Swiss Engineered" positioning.
Graf firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Graf
- Legal name
- Graf + Cie AG
- Website
- https://graf-companies.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1917
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Graf + Cie AG is a Swiss subsidiary of Rieter Group and a global supplier of card clothing, flexible flats, and combs for short- and long-staple spinning mills, nonwoven producers, and machine builders, operating five manufacturing sites and 60 agents worldwide.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Graf is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Rapperswil
- HQ country
- Switzerland
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices5 records
Markets served
Graf business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Card Clothing and Combs Sales: Graf generates revenue through the sale of card clothing (metallic card clothing, flexible flats, stationary flats) and combs (top combs, circular combs) for carding and combing machines used in the textile industry. The company also offers after-sales products including accessories and service packages.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels4 records
Graf product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Graf manufactures and sells precision-engineered card clothing (metallic card clothing, flexible flats, stationary flats) and combs (top combs, circular combs) for carding and combing machines used in the short- and long-staple spinning industry, as well as for nonwoven production. The company produces clothing components for blowroom equipment and OE opening rollers, complemented by accessories, cleaning/stripping fillets, and technical service packages delivered through global specialists.
Product overview
Graf offers a unified product portfolio of high-performance clothings and combs for the textile industry, spanning carding, combing, and nonwoven processes. The core product lines include Metallic Card Clothing (including TUCAN), Flexible Flats (including HYPERTOP C-60), Stationary Flats, Top Combs, and Circular Combs, supported by accessories and service packages. These precision-engineered components process textile fibers on carding and combing machines for short-staple and long-staple spinning, as well as nonwoven production. The portfolio is backed by five manufacturing locations worldwide and global technical service support.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Metallic Card Clothing Metallic card clothing wire designed for carding machines, featuring precision tooth geometry for superior fiber guidance, lifting fibers upward during the carding process for better fiber control, fewer neps, and more consistent yarn quality.
- TUCAN Metallic Card Clothing Advanced metallic card clothing with innovative Swiss Engineered tooth geometry featuring a long tooth backbone and elongated tip back. Designed for grinding-free and maintenance-free operation, enabling processing of up to 1,000 tons of fibers without grinding while maintaining consistent high yarn quality.
- HYPERTOP C-60 Flexible Flat Swiss Engineered flexible flat card clothing featuring a patented multizone setting pattern that provides refined fiber control and precise fiber alignment during carding. Enables better retention of usable fibers, reduces waste, and stabilizes output quality while achieving up to 0.5% good fiber savings.
- Flexible Flats Flexible flats for flat cards and roller cards, forming part of the clothing system for processing textile fibers of any kind in spinning applications.
- Stationary Flats Stationary flats for flat carding machines, used alongside metallic card clothing and flexible flats in textile fiber processing.
- Cleaning and Stripping Fillets Cleaning and stripping fillets for maintaining carding equipment and removing fiber waste from the carding process.
- Clothing for Blowroom Card clothing components designed for blowroom equipment used in the initial fiber opening and cleaning stages of textile processing.
- Clothing for OE Opening Rollers Card clothing for open-end (OE) opening rollers used in rotor spinning and open-end spinning systems.
- Top Combs Top combs for combing machines used in the short- and long-staple spinning industry, designed for precise processing of textile fibers.
- Circular Combs Circular combs for combing machines used in the short- and long-staple spinning industry, providing precise fiber processing in combing operations.
- Metallic Card Clothing for Nonwovens Metallic card clothing specifically designed for nonwoven production, providing highest precision and quality for producers and machine builders in the nonwovens industry.
- Card Clothing Packages for Recycled Fibers Three dedicated innovative card clothing packages specially designed for processing recycled fibers, including licker-in, cylinders, doffer rollers, and flats for medium and high production lines. Enables spinning mills to transform recycled cotton, cotton blends, and man-made fibers into high-quality yarn up to Ne 20 count.
- Accessories One-stop accessories supporting card clothing and comb products, providing comprehensive support for the full product lifecycle.
- Service Packages Intelligent and flexible service packages providing after-sales support, deployed through Graf specialists located around the world to accompany customers toward success.
Quantifiable outcome
- TUCAN metallic card clothing enables grinding-free operation over 1,000 tons of fibers with consistent yarn quality
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Graf
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Graf technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Graf partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.
- EurotecnicacoreLocal agent for Graf in Latin America, facilitating participation in EXINTEX exhibition and providing strong local presence for customer engagement and regional market support.
- Turkmenistan Ministry of TextilesflagshipSigned memorandum of understanding to collaborate on modern textile technologies. Graf reaffirms its commitment to supporting the dynamic growth of Turkmenistan's yarn industry and strengthening the country's position in the global textile market.
- Rongyuan MachinerycoreAgent in China that collaborated with Graf at CINTE 2024 to demonstrate how Graf's solutions can optimize nonwoven processes.
- GomitexcoreAcquired in 1999 as a supplier of coated fundations for cover clothings and licker-in clothings. Since 2000, Gomitex has been a Graf company.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves12 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Graf competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Andritz AG: Andritz is an Austrian industrial group whose Nonwoven division (incorporating former Asselin-Thibeau) supplies complete nonwoven lines including carding systems, overlapping directly with Graf's nonwoven metallic card clothing offerings. As a much larger conglomerate, it competes at the card-clothing consumable level while serving broader industrial markets.
- Saurer: Saurer is a Swiss-origin textile machinery platform with a long heritage in ring spinning, rotor spinning, and winding machinery. Although it operates at the broader machinery level rather than consumables, it overlaps with Graf's customer base of spinning mills and competes for the same capital-investment budgets as Graf's parent Rieter.
- Oerlikon (Barmag): Oerlikon's Barmag and Segment Man-Made Fibers divisions cover filament and staple fiber machinery, including drawframes and other textile components serving the same spinning-mill customer base as Graf. As a broad Swiss industrial conglomerate, it overlaps thematically but does not specialize in card clothing consumables.
Direct peers
- Bräcker AG: Bräcker AG is a Swiss manufacturer of card clothing and a sister company to Graf under the Rieter Components division (per Graf's website footer). It produces comparable metallic and flexible card clothing solutions and is one of the most direct peer competitors in the spinning and nonwoven carding consumables category.
- Suessen GmbH: Suessen is a German manufacturer of spinning machinery components including drafting systems and other precision textile parts, also part of the Rieter Components family. Its component-level focus on spinning-mill quality and precision is comparable to Graf's approach to precision-engineered card clothing.
- Truetzschler GmbH & Co. KG: Truetzschler is the leading German manufacturer of spinning preparation and nonwoven machinery, including card clothing and related consumables that compete directly with Graf's metallic card clothing, flexible flats, and nonwoven products. Its broad coverage of carding rooms makes it the most direct global competitor to Graf in the textile machinery component space.
Regional players
- Lakshmi Machine Works Ltd: Lakshmi Machine Works is a major Indian textile machinery manufacturer producing spinning machines and related components for the South Asian yarn industry. Although focused on spinning frames rather than consumables like card clothing, it represents the regional manufacturing ecosystem where Graf is actively expanding (per Pee Vee Textiles and similar customer wins).
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Graf social profiles
Digital presenceGraf financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Graf leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Graf subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries4 records
Graf funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Graf M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Graf
What does Graf do?
Graf manufactures and sells precision-engineered card clothing (metallic card clothing, flexible flats, stationary flats) and combs (top combs, circular combs) for carding and combing machines used in the short- and long-staple spinning industry, as well as for nonwoven production. The company produces clothing components for blowroom equipment and OE opening rollers, complemented by accessories, cleaning/stripping fillets, and technical service packages delivered through global specialists.
Is Graf a public or private company?
Graf is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Graf founded?
Graf was founded in 1917. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Graf based?
Graf is headquartered in Rapperswil, Switzerland, in the Europe region.
How does Graf make money?
One revenue line is on record: card Clothing and Combs Sales.
Who are Graf's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Andritz AG, Saurer and Oerlikon (Barmag). Direct peers are Bräcker AG, Suessen GmbH and Truetzschler GmbH & Co. KG. Lakshmi Machine Works Ltd is listed as a regional player.
Does Graf have an API?
No public API is recorded for Graf.