More than one hundred years of its existence means the Josef Strnad Tannery ranks among one of the oldest Czech establishments of its kind that have never stopped running. The tannery survived two world wars, forty years of the communist regime and the influx of cheap Asian production unharmed.

In 1902 Mr. Josef Strnad started a small tanning-house in a Czech town called Žamberk. In 1946, i.e. after 44 years of successful business activities, Mr. Strnad’s son decided to enlarge production. He and his friend Mr. Jaroslav Dohnálek purchased large business premises in Solnice. Unfortunately, the new establishment remained in the hands of these two owners for two years only as it was nationalized, like all other private companies, after the communist coup in February 1948. Luckily, the company did not follow the gloomy fate of many other companies that ceased to exist. Its operations continued for another 44 years as part of the state-owned company Rukavičkářské závody Dobříš (Glove Makers of Dobříš). After the fall of the communist regime, namely in 1992 the tannery was restituted by Josef Strnad’s and Jaroslav Dohnálek’s descendants who have continued the family tradition ever since.