Company
A merchant house that has outlasted a century.
More than 100 years of dedicated service to clients and friends in the cotton industry around the globe. Our success has been built on the steady support of satisfied customers, reliable suppliers in the producing origins, and trusted industry partners.
How we work
We feel committed to tradition but stay open to innovation, and conduct business under this motto with virtues such as reliability, flexibility and dynamism. Our team consists of around 30 people, building the basis for our operations and success. We continuously train young talent to ensure that knowledge and dedication to the cotton fibre is passed from one generation to the next.
Today's management
Managing Directors Henning Hammer and Stephanie Silber were both trained at Otto Stadtlander GmbH, where they gained the expertise to lead the company for many years now.
Milestones
The Otto Stadtlander timeline
Founded in Bremen
On 1 October 1919, Otto Stadtlander founds an export house in Bremen. The young firm supplies consumer goods of all kinds to North Africa and South America — laying the network on which today's cotton trade was built.
Rainer Hammer joins the firm
Rainer Hammer joins Otto Stadtlander and begins three decades of close collaboration with the founding generation — preparing the company's eventual succession.
Marcusallee 3 — the former French consulate
In October 1984 the company moves into its present headquarters: the stately villa at Marcusallee 3, formerly the French consulate to Bremen, near Rhododendron Park.
Rainer Hammer takes over the management
Rainer Hammer assumes leadership of Otto Stadtlander and steers the company through three decades of consolidation in the European cotton trade.
Liaison offices abroad
Outposts in Shanghai (Otto Cotton Co., Ltd.), São Paulo (Agrah Ltda.) and Riga (OSTA Riga) anchor the company directly in the most important producing and consuming origins.
Centennial — the largest remaining German cotton trader
Otto Stadtlander celebrates its 100th anniversary as Germany's largest remaining cotton merchant — with a worldwide network across the textile industry and the major producing regions.
Next generation, same principles
Managing Directors Henning Hammer and Stephanie Silber — both trained at the firm — lead a team of around thirty in Bremen. The group encompasses Multi-fiber Handels-GmbH, Cetex Rheinfaser and Bunzl Raccolta, and ranges amongst the largest sustainable cotton merchants in the world.
Future
Who knows what the future will hold?
We believe in continuously reinventing our services and ourselves. With one of the youngest teams in the industry, we ensure that horizons are wide open, complex requirements understood, and modern approaches taken. Our portfolio includes an assortment of certified cottons, tailormade solutions for the sustainable cotton industry, and a logistics setup that allows for everything between globalisation and regionalism — multiple thousand tonnes or a single bale. We are confident to be well prepared for the developments and disruptions that come our way. We hope to have you with us on this journey.
Group companies
A network of specialised fibre houses.
Beyond our headquarters in Bremen, the Otto Stadtlander group includes specialised subsidiaries that distribute viscose, polyester staple, modacrylic and aramid fibres in international markets — adjacent to our cotton operations.
Multi-fiber Handels-GmbH
Bremen, Germany
Service-oriented distribution of viscose, polyester staple, modacrylic and aramid fibres.
Cetex Rheinfaser
Ganderkesee, Germany
Specialty fibre house complementing the group's cotton trading.
Bunzl Raccolta
Biella, Italy
Italian distribution arm serving the textile industries of Southern Europe.
Global network
Sourcing worldwide. Decisions made in Bremen.
Our team operates from four locations — headquartered in Bremen, with liaison offices in Shanghai, São Paulo and Riga. We work with growers and ginners across the world's major cotton-growing regions.