Joachim has been working full-time in the sheep wool center since 2011. And since January 1st, 2016 he has also been "boss on paper”, as he explains it. Already in the 3rd generation, he runs the family business together with his brother Michael. But also senior boss and "wool god" Johannes Regensburger is still working on the machines every day. In general, the sheep wool center is a family affair: The manufactory currently has 10 employees, including 4 family members.
The company was founded in 1938 by Otto Regensburger, Joachim's grandfather, to process local flax grown in Ötztal or Tirol. Flax, also known as linseed, is an old crop that forms the basic fiber for linen. And this type of flax was very important in Ötztal, and especially in Umhausen.
This is also evidenced by old documents: The price of Ötztal flax was already listed on the Hamburg goods and futures exchange market around 1800. In 1948 and 1949, about 50 tons of flax were grown and processed in Ötztal. The following year, however, the cultivation of flax collapsed completely. There were several reasons, as Joachim explains: On the one hand, synthetic fibers were developed at the time - above all, nylon. In addition, flax imports from countries such as Belgium or France increased, where there were much better conditions for cultivation in terms of cultivation area.