Smit & Zoon’s 200 Year Anniversary On May 8, 1821, Albert Smit hung up his captain’s cap and settled with a newly founded company A. Smit on Brouwersgracht in Amsterdam. Now 6 generations later, we can celebrate the 200th anniversary of our beautiful company Smit & Zoon. An amazing milestone! Our history: 7 Generations 200 years of entrepreneurship and innovation Albert Smit – Captain of the vessel “De Koornzaaijer” – founded the company in 1821. Originally, he needed a way to trade his dried codfish, salted herring and medicinal cod liver oil. But the former captain showed himself a great entrepreneur as well: it didn’t take him long to expand his activities to trading animal oils, vegetable oils and proteins. Through a series of innovations and adaptations, Smit & Zoon developed into a company producing chemicals for the leather industry. In addition, functional oils and animal fats for the food, feed and pharmaceutical industry were produced and traded. Our history Royal Predicate On the occasion of our 200th anniversary, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands has granted Smit & Zoon the Royal predicate. It is with the utmost pride that we inform you that His Royal Highness the King of the Netherlands has acknowledged Smit & Zoon’s bicentennial and past successes with the Royal predicate. From now on, we will be “Royal Smit & Zoon”. A personal message from Marc Smit 7th Generation, CEO of Royal Smit & Zoon Anniversary Book Beyond the anniversary year, our commemorative book creates long-term value as it preserves our historical record. This book describes what has happened in the past 200 years, and just as important: what is our path forward? The Anniversary Book, a beautiful designed 200-page coffee table book, will be issued in May. On request a PDF of the book is available in Dutch and English. Visit Queen Máxima One of the highlights around our 200 Year Jubilee has been the visit from Her Majesty Queen Máxima to our company in Weesp on Wednesday afternoon, 26th May. It was a highly pleasurable meeting where we gave Queen Máxima a tour of our premises and discussed, among others, circularity in the leather value chain, the importance of education and sharing knowledge, our innovation Zeology and of course 200 years of family tradition and entrepreneurship. More pictures Design Challenge We are excited and very proud to present to you Smit & Zoon’s Design Challenge 2020, a competition between 5 talented young designers from 5 different countries. Their goal is to create shoes for the high-end of the fashion industry, with an emphasis on the sustainability of their products. The challenge started in October and will have its grand finale at the 200th anniversary of Smit & Zoon, in May 2021. Visit the website An impression of 200 Years of… innovation, passion, pride, inspiration, diversity, dedication, caring, expertise… We want to visually capture the special moments of the past 200 years and our vision for the future. A 200-year corporate film is in the making. Read more about us History Mission statement Our story Stay informed Receive the latest news and industry updates Subscribe to our newsletter
