They say looks aren't everything, but at Stahl we’re proud to have a strong visual identity that’s recognised around the world. And it’s a brand that’s underpinned by our strong customer focus and shared values. While our branding has naturally evolved over time, some elements, such as our logo and part of our colour scheme, have been in place for several decades.
It was time for a change, so in 2023, we took the next step in our strategic journey with the launch of a major company-wide rebranding project. The aim? A fresh look and feel that reflects the company we are today and the value that we bring to the world. Aligning our brand more closely with our updated strategy and positioning will help us better connect and engage with our customers and drive the next phase of Stahl's growth.
Building on our heritage
At Stahl, we are proud of our heritage and strong track record in the leather and performance coatings industries.
But times change. Slowly but surely, we've evolved our business to meet the changing needs of our customers and markets. This includes introducing new value-added products to support our value chains in different markets. We've also consolidated our ESG leadership in coatings through sustainable innovation and participation in industry partnerships such as the Renewable Carbon Initiative.
In 2023, we reached an important milestone in our repositioning journey as we acquired our new packaging coatings business. The acquisition gives our business three strong pillars – in leather, performance coatings and packaging coatings. And it puts us in a strong position to deliver value to our customers and stakeholders. Meanwhile, we also launched our new purpose, Touching lives, for a better world, which provides a common compass to guide our future direction together.
Refreshing our visual identity is the logical next step in this process. It’s a chance to present Stahl to the world as the company we are today – the world leader in speciality coatings and surface treatments for flexible substrates – and to communicate our future ambitions, from product development to ESG leadership.
Most importantly, our new branding should fit seamlessly with the products and services we offer and the expectations that our customers and stakeholders have of Stahl.
Staying on brand
Our refreshed branding includes a dynamic new logo and crosshatch pattern, which together symbolise the unique 'touch' of Stahl and the transformative qualities of our coatings.
The logo includes a word mark that features strong lines and a condensed boldness to respect our visual heritage, while remaining elegant and sophisticated, connecting to the speciality business and premium solutions we offer to our customers. The logo’s image mark combines different weights to suggest movement and reveal the transformative qualities of overlays (or coatings).
We’ve also introduced a new colour palette to visualise and differentiate our activities and our approach to sustainability and other strategic topics. For example, we now use 'leaf green' to bring our sustainability-related content to life and 'leather red' for all people-related materials.
Going forward, we'll be unveiling our new look and feel piece by piece, starting with the new logo. In the meantime, we are busy redesigning our marketing materials to align with the new branding and working with our business partners to help them update third-party materials that include our branding.
But this is more than just a rebranding exercise – it's the start of an exciting new chapter for Stahl and its people, and for everyone associated with the company. But as we embrace this change, rest assured that we are still the same Stahl we’ve always been, all the way back to our beginnings in 1930. A Stahl that remains committed to working hard every day for its stakeholders and to Touching lives, for a better world.
Read more about our rebranding journey in our more recent article: Stahl's rebrand - the next chapter.