Zelthangar takes over Spatz: Will production return to Switzerland?
6.3.2025
Translation: machine translated
Spatz has a new owner: the Effretikon-based company Zelthangar has taken over the traditional brand along with its stock - and can imagine producing in Switzerland again.
If any tent is closely interwoven with collective memories, it's this one: Spatz has been around since 1935 - and therefore many generations have spent their nights in it at Scout, Cevi or Blauring camps. Since 1 March 2025, the traditional brand and its entire warehouse have been owned by Zelthangar from Effretikon.
"We are giving Spatz a future," says Zelthangar founder Diego Walder in the press release on the takeover. It remains to be seen exactly what this future will look like. For the time being, Zelthangar will organise the distribution of the stock and ensure service.
In the long term, Walder, who already produces one model in Switzerland with Zelthangar, has the vision of manufacturing Spatz tents locally again. "To take this step, we need to continue to grow as a company."
Zelthangar takes over from Scott
As much as the Spatz brand stands for consistency: There has been some turbulence in the recent past. In 2016, it was on the brink of extinction, was revived as Spatz ZELTE & Reparaturen AG and finally production was moved to Asia. This was one of the reasons why the then production manager Diego Walder left the company and founded Zelthangar in 2018.
The company with which he himself has now taken over the brand and the stocks from Scott Sports SA in western Switzerland. This company had been owned by Spatz since 2020 and had expanded the range to include camping furniture. In future, the focus will once again be fully on tents.
Almost 100 years of Spatz history
In 1941, founder Hans Behrmann developed the characteristic double roof tent and the successful Spatz model was soon to be found on every campsite. In the 1980s, Behrmann began issuing shares to the employees, who continued to run the company after his death in 1999 until 2012.
Then the company was put up for sale for the first time and the troubled times began. Let's see how the story continues - it's certainly not over yet.
Source: Wikimedia Commons/Adrian Michael/CC BY-SA 3.0
Header image: Tent hangar
Michael Restin
Senior Editor
Michael.Restin@digitecgalaxus.chSimple writer and dad of two who likes to be on the move, wading through everyday family life. Juggling several balls, I'll occasionally drop one. It could be a ball, or a remark. Or both.
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