Golddachs

Golddachs is a German wet-shaving and beard-care brand founded in 1971 by Rainer Dittmar [4]. It began with a single product, the Golddachs shaving soap, which Dittmar developed in Alpenrod in the Westerwald region of Germany. The brand built its reputation on traditional wet-shaving goods such as shaving soaps, badger-hair shaving brushes and straight razors, and several of its recipes are still made to their original formulas.

The brand name has belonged to the Pfeilring Gruppe of Solingen since 2010 [4]. Golddachs remains active today: it is sold through its own website and a range of retailers, and the current operating company is Espri & Golddachswerk GmbH in Neustadt (Wied).

The company traces back to the Golddachs shaving soap, the product with which Rainer Dittmar started his business in 1971 [4]. The soap was originally developed in Alpenrod, in the Westerwald, and according to the German shaving portal 3tage-bart-rasierer.de it has since been sold unchanged according to its original recipe. From this single product the brand grew into a full range for wet shaving and beard care.

In its early decades Golddachs operated as a family business. The company has carried more than one corporate name over its history, trading at different points as Dittmar GmbH and as GOLDDACHSWERK Dittmar GmbH [4].

After roughly three decades as a family firm, the business ran into financial difficulty, and ownership eventually passed out of the founding family. The Pfeilring Group first entered the business in 2007 and, three years later, took it over completely [4]. According to material from the parent company, the original founders sold the Golddachs brand name to the Pfeilring Group in 2010 [5].

A more recent chapter concerns the brand's current operating entity. Golddachs describes its present company as having emerged from a merger of two long-established names, Espri and Golddachs. The company says Espri, a maker of pharmaceutical, industrial and cosmetic packaging, had to change course after a flooding crisis, and that the two firms decided to combine forces [2]. The current business operates as Espri & Golddachswerk GmbH from Neustadt (Wied).

Golddachs has been owned by the Pfeilring Gruppe since 2010 [4]. Pfeilring is a long-running Solingen manufacturer; the company dates its own origins to 1896, when it began producing cutting instruments, and it later became known for manicure and pedicure tools [6]. This 1896 date belongs to the parent company, not to Golddachs, whose own founding is recorded as 1971 [4]. Under Pfeilring, the Golddachs name has continued to be used for shaving brushes and straight razors associated with the former Dittmar company [5].

Golddachs presents itself as a specialist in wet shaving and beard care, with its homepage describing the company as an expert in shaving and beard care using premium products. The company frames the daily shave less as a chore than as a personal feel-good experience: it says that through natural, first-class ingredients and its recipes, it aims to enable a thorough, long-lasting and skin-friendly shave [2]. Alongside its products, the brand also offers consultation intended to help customers choose goods suited to their skin type and beard style.

The range covers the equipment associated with a traditional wet shave, from shaving soaps to straight razors. Two items are singled out as especially sought-after: the Golddachs Spezial Rasierseife (special shaving soap) and the Ungarische Bartwichse (Hungarian beard wax), both of which are described as made to old original recipes [4]. The brand is also known for shaving brushes made from badger hair, as well as straight razors and safety razors. The shaving soap, noted for its creamy lather, is treated as a classic among the brand's products.

Golddachs is an active brand. Its website remains in operation, selling shaving and beard-care products under Espri & Golddachswerk GmbH, and its goods are in retail distribution in Germany and internationally [1]. The brand describes itself both as a wholesaler for shaving products and beard care and as a retailer for end customers.