Croatian company produces umbrellas, raincoats and large parasols.
The only umbrella factory in Croatia, Tabacco from Zaprešić, will this year mark 25 years of successful business operations, reports Poslovni.hr on September 20, 2016.
Six years ago, the company started the production of the Croatian Umbrella, which has been available in foreign markets since 2013. Marin Rogić, the owner of the company, explains that they came to the idea of the Croatian Umbrella as a response to the economic recession.
“My wife Nataša and I decided that we would not be discouraged, and therefore we have launched a new project which we informally called ‘anti-recessionary umbrella’”, he says. He stresses that Tabacco is proud to cooperate with several Croatian designers, which enables them to expand their offer with designer models of umbrellas. Ivana Popović, Juraj Zigman and Ana Krolo are just some of them.
The story of the Croatian Umbrella has a social component as well, which is demonstrated by the cooperation with the penitentiary in Lipovica, started in 2010, with the production being a part of the rehabilitation therapy. “Although there has been certain resistance, we have developed a successful collaboration”, said Rogić.
Of the 40 employees of Tabacco, the majority are women who have been unemployed for a long time and belong to an age group which has great difficulties in finding jobs. Rogić says that their company is focused on people: satisfied employees and satisfied customers. “We try to include vulnerable groups in the manufacturing process because we believe that everyone has the right to work”, he says.
The production process for each umbrella involves 17 distinct phases, with attention being paid to every detail. Their goal is to be better than cheaper imported products from Eastern countries and to create a high-quality and authentic Croatian product. Every year they produce nearly 200,000 umbrella which can be purchased, in addition to Croatia, in more than 15 countries across Europe.
"The next step with which we have expanded our range of products is a raincoat because we have discovered that this is a new, yet unexplored market. Our raincoats are made of a material which guarantees that water cannot get through”, says Rogić.
Tabacco also participates in numerous business exhibitions and fairs, and this year they took part in an Croatian Chamber of Economy’s event in Poreč, where many hotel chains showed great interest in their parasols. The successful entrepreneurial story includes the exclusive representation of the Kisha brand for Croatia, which is best known by the umbrella model with built-in Bluetooth transmitter.
