Family entrepreneurs: Herman and Margit Würflingsdober, Ulrike Kinder and Martin Würflingsdober (f.t.l).
A – The umbrella specialist, doppler, based in Braunau, Austria, celebrated its 80th anniversary in October 2026. The family-owned company was founded in 1946 by Ernst Doppler and a seamstress. It quickly established itself on the umbrella market, laying the foundation for its future development.
In the mid-1950s, Ernst’s daughter, Renate Doppler, and her husband, Hermann Würflingsdober, joined the company and strategically expanded the product portfolio to include garden umbrellas and cushions for outdoor furniture. The German subsidiary was established in 1971. From 1988 onward, the third generation, namely Hermann Würflingsdober and his wife, Margit, actively pushed the company’s internationalisation. In the years that followed, subsidiaries were established in Eastern Europe and Asia. In 1990, the product range was expanded to include garden furniture. Since 2025, representing the fourth generation the founder’s great-grandchildren, Ulrike Kinder and Martin Würflingsdober, have been running the family business.
“In the old days, the company was located right next to our family home. I still have vivid memories of the small workshop where my sister and I would sometimes tinker and of building cardboard forts in the warehouse. This close proximity to the business shaped us from an early age and continues to influence our way of thinking to this day,” recalled Managing Director, Martin Würflingsdober. “The fact that we are able to celebrate our 80th anniversary this year is primarily thanks to the people, who have supported and helped shape doppler over a number of years – our employees, as well as our customers and suppliers. This anniversary is, therefore, above all an occasion to express our heartfelt thanks,” added Ulrike Kinder, a company shareholder.
The company’s current premises in Braunau were established in 1999 to keep pace with the continuous growth and increasing technical requirements. The site has been expanded several times since and is meanwhile nearly double the size. The acquisition of the long-established Knirps brand in 2005, in collaboration with a Swiss partner, marked a further significant milestone in the company’s history. Today, the firm is present in more than 70 countries around the world and continues to focus on further development and the exploration of new sales potential within its core European market.
“Our predecessors built a strong foundation that we can build on today. Our parents began transforming doppler into an internationally successful company as early as the late 1980s – a path we are consistently following. Thanks to our solid foundation, we are able to respond flexibly to new market demands and the challenges of an increasingly digitalised world,” the Managing Director commented.