Produced with passion - How your Mattes products are made

Produced with passion - How your Mattes products are made

Lambskins from Australia, sales and management teams in Germany, and the beating heart of our company in Poland: that’s where almost 100 employees make our handmade and bespoke products make to your dreams a reality.

Some of our staff have even been with us since 1992, when production in Poland began. Every employee who has ever left us to go and work somewhere else has come back. The few who have left the company for good have retired or have several children. A further 30 work for you in the tannery, which is where we create the unique lambskin that we’re so proud of. We have designed the individual lambskin production stages to ensure that the natural properties of the lambswool are retained and you can always be sure of the highest quality.

For decades now, our employees have mastered the delicate balancing act between the needs and anatomical realities of horses, maximum functionality and quality, and a stylish appearance. For the manufacture of our products we rely on one hand on the expertise and craftsmanship of our employees, and on the other on our proven designs, which are regularly reviewed and adapted to meet new demands.

Mattes in Australia: The best lambskins and strict controls

Our most important raw materials are lambskins. We've been sourcing them from Australia for the last 35 years, because the quality there is best able to meet our extremely demanding requirements. Mattes uses only premiumware, the very top quality hides - the only company in our industry to do so, anywhere in the world.

Trained experts in Australia sort the material according to our comprehensive criteria and our own inspector visits the exporters to check each batch of hides several times in turn before they are then shipped. The inspector only releases them for transport and processing if they meet our demanding requirements in every way.

Our production facility

Take a look at our production facility in Myslenice, Poland (Europe).

This is where your MATTES product is lovingly hand-crafted with passion by our professional team.

Mattes in Poland: From lambskin to the finished product, with experience and passion

At our site in Myslenice, Poland, almost 100 professionals turn the lambskins that leave the tannery into functional, fashionable and durable items for professional and amateur riders alike. This is all based on sophisticated technology, attention to detail, a lot of precise craftsmanship, constant quality controls and our sense of perfection.

The hides alone are subjected to more than 50 sub-processes, while the work is checked and the products are sorted up to ten times. We monitor every process according to our proven company philosophy and the latest state of the art.

We use extra high quality dyes to colour our lambskins and to ensure that all our products are colour-matched. We value resistance to light and laundry damage especially highly. Waste water and materials are disposed of in a professional and environmentally friendly way - at the end of the day, people, animals and nature are all equally close to our hearts. The city of Nowy Targ has the most modern water treatment works anywhere in Poland, especially to handle liquid tannery waste. In addition, some of our waste water is pre-treated before leaving the tannery.

Made in Europe

We pay just as much attention to stylish variety, functionality and quality in our quilted fabrics, bindings and piping as we do in our lambskins. A number of intermediate and final checks during our cutting, sewing and embroidering processes ensure that every product we ship to our customers is perfect.

Made in Europe is not only plain to see on our products; you can feel it too - and that's a mark of quality proven over many years. That’s why we made a conscious decision to manufacture our products in the European Union rather than Asia.

Hand in Hand: Employees and Management

Every cog in the machine meshes with the next, and every cog is equally important. Mattes knows the key role played by its committed teams in the company's success. Our managing directors Peter Mattes and Elke Jordan-Mattes, the management of our Polish factory and our key employees are all very much aware of their daily responsibilities towards their employees and their families.

With what we see as a self-evident combination of mutual respect, maximum trust, an inspiring work atmosphere, fair pay and, above all, great humanity, we can foster a passion for horses, equestrian sport and our high quality products within the company. The best evidence of this is the fact that many of our employees have been happily working for Mattes for decades. All these people are our biggest asset.