Chronic

25 years of latex fashion:

From the business creation up to now: The success story of SIMON O. as time lapse.

1996
The pleasure of wearing and processing latex combines with the wish to establish own imaginations and ideas in the market. As inquiries increase among our circle of friends and acquaintances, we finally end up officially founding the SIMON O. Latex manufactory.

1997
The first business premise is rented. At first, the cellar rooms are elaborately whipped into shape and the team spends sleepless nights creating the majority of the first drafts and designs. SIMON O. is one of the first latex manufactures who dares to grasp deep into the "paint bucket" and thereby creates a trend towards a more colorful spirit in the field of latex fashion.

1999
With our colorful collection we couldn`t bear the cellar rooms for a long time: A sunny corner shop is rented in the "Wattgasse" of Vienna. The first domain www.latex.at is registered and hosted which represents the emergence of the SIMON O. store, one of the first online shops for latex clothing.

2000
In this year SIMON. O receives his first order from a theater: We equip the musical "Falco ‐ A Cyber Show" directed by Paulus Manker playing at the Viennese Ronacher theater. 20 latex raincoats are made from transparent-black latex for a funeral scene. Over the next few years we have provided numerous other special stage outfits for theater-, music- and movie purposes.

2002
The shop located at Wattstraße is structurally changed and enlarged by a wall opening. Numerous publications, photo reports and a continously growing customer base are responsible for an increasing popularity of SIMON O. latex clothing and our production capabilities need to be raised.

2003
Looking back on the founding year 1996, a lot of things have changed in the meantime like the number of employees ‐ the SIMON O. team now consists of 5 co- workers. Above all, some things stayed the same: Fun, delight and a passion concerning all tasks related to latex.

2005
As our "Wattstraße"-premises have become to small, the company headquarters moves to a new place at "Hernalser Hauptstraße". No less than 400 square meters got adapted to our personal imaginations. The given space is urgently needed: In the meantime the SIMON O. team comprises 7 dedicated staff members.

2006
A new online shop with a larger choice and more configuration possibilities is launched for our customers. Thanks to many design amendments and optimizations, the shop remains the leading web presence of SIMON O. until early 2016 when the online shop was replaced by our current and brand-new shop.

2008
In order to lessen the repercussions of the global economic crisis, we temporarily move to an estate in Weyerburg which is part of our family ownership. Due to this countermeasure, we are able to reduce our operating costs and to preserve all jobs of our staff members.

2010
SIMON O. establishes a new production site in Hollabrunn due to the in-house production of many different new colors, patterns and special printings.

2014
Four years later the production site is still located in Hollabrunn, but it has moved to a place in Hollabrunns' pedestrian zone offering a 400 square meter large showroom as additional space. Meanwhile, the team consists of 9 staff members who do their best to fulfil each individual customer request.

2015
In order to supply his customers with their favorite pieces of the broad latex collection fast and short-term, SIMON O. is endeavoured to build up additional production- and storage capacities in a second nearby production site. Ultimately, both factors enable the emergence of the LATEX EXPRESS LINE. From now on, every item of this collection can be produced and shipped in every clothing size within 7 business day.

2016
In April, the new SIMON O. online shop will be launched. Looking back at 20 years of company history, a lot of things have happened and changed. In the meantime, we employ 17 staff members with 15 of them working full time and we process almost 10.000 meters of latex each year. The sheer number of cutting patterns for all delivered latex clothes requires an amount of 500 kg cardboard each year.

We are very pleased if you have accompanied us or still accompany us on our path and thank you for your confidence! In the last few years, nothing has changed relating to our entrepreneurial endeavours: We are still working with the desire to design, create and offer aesthetic, durable and unparalleled configurable latex clothing with an exceptionally high quality. We still manufacture latex with love, delight and passion.