History
Verosol is founded by the shipbuilder Cornelis Verolme. His shipyard is the first shipyard in the world to build mammoth tankers. During one of his trips to America Verolme encounters the problem of temperature control in skyscrapers. In these extreme architectural buildings exterior solar shading cannot be applied which results in an increase in temperature in the building and a subsequent increase in the costs of air-conditioning.
In the middle sixties Verolme concludes that special sun shading curtains on the inside of windows would be a good solution to this problem. He instructs one of his shipyards nearby Rotterdam to develop some metallising equipment, with which a thin layer of aluminium can be applied to curtain fabric. Textile manufacturer Blydenstein-Willink is furthermore asked to develop a special polyester fabric suitable for this metallising process. In 1965, the newly founded company Verolme Metallising introduces the product to the market under the brand name Metalon.
In 1968 the brand name is changed into Verosol. ‘Vero’ for Verolme and ‘sol’ for solar (sun). At the end of the seventies Verosol enters the Australian and American market. These countries accept the Verosol products as a new concept within the custom made window covering products. During the eighties not only new fabric qualities and transparencies are developed, but, in answer to the demands of the market, the finishes and fire-retardant versions are also improved. This is the period of the ultimate revolutionary invention of Verosol: pleated blinds. Other product applications of metallised fabric are also developed: vertical blinds and roller blinds.
Subsequently Verosol Fabrics establishes itself in Eibergen, The Netherlands, where the production of the Verosol fabric for the worldwide distribution to Verosol Australia, Verosol Nederland and the Verosol licensees is started. And in 1997, the opening of the new factory in Eibergen takes place, whereby the heart of the factory is formed by the only operative metallising machine of Verolme. Since the millennium a second, modernised machine has started production. This new metallising machine is able to handle fabric widths of 240 cm (94,49 in), where previously the original Verolme machine could handle only a width of 160 cm (62,99 in).
The vision of Verolme has ultimately led to the establishment of the Verosol Group (as the name of Blydenstein-Willink has become in the meantime), an independent company with more than 300 employees and subsidiary companies in The Netherlands (2), Australia, Spain, Mexico and Hongkong.
