Inspired by craftspeople – for 100 years

Festool celebrates 100th year anniversary

2025 sees Festool, the power tool manufacturer from Wendlingen, celebrate its 100th anniversary: One hundred years of history – a history of family, the company, and evolution – driven by a deep passion for craftsmanship. Making daily work easier, faster and safer for generations of tradespeople: That was the aim when the company was founded in 1925 and continues to be the guiding principle to this day. And it will remain so for the next 100 years.

The tool manufacturer's 100-year history of success started in the German town of Esslingen am Neckar in 1925. Albert Fezer and Gottlieb Stoll founded their own company for repairing stationary wood processing machinery. It soon became clear that the experts at Fezer & Stoll had the knowledge to not only repair machines but built better machines themselves. This passion for craftsmanship gave rise to an innovative strength that resulted in unique products that shape trade work to this day. Even though Albert Fezer left the company after just a few years, the company bears the names of both founders to this day: Fezer & Stoll became Festo. The power tool business area became Festool.

From the very beginning, the company strove to offer tradespeople tools of the highest quality to make their work significantly easier. Through an ongoing exchange with professional tradespeople, Festo and later Festool managed to perfectly tailor tools and systems to the specific needs and requirements of trade work.

Portable one-man chainsaw (1927)

SB 126 (1930)

Innovative tools for the toughest demands: Always developed with and for customers

Gottlieb Stoll's realisation that "the tool has to come to the workpiece, not vice versa" soon became the basis for success: The breakthrough already came in the early 1930s with the first portable chainsaw. It was produced to handle difficult manual work on site. Another innovation entered the market at the same time in the form of the SB 126, the first portable circular saw for carpenters.

In the early 1950s, the first orbital sander replaced tedious, time-consuming work using hand-sanding blocks. In doing so, it set a new industry standard, strengthened the company – and put the brand on the map. As the health of tradespeople is of central importance for the innovative tool manufacturer, Festo developed a highly effective extraction system for the orbital sander that actively extracts the sanding dust – the first of its kind in the world! The guide rail, which has since become an integral part of daily trade work across the globe, was also considered to be a pioneering innovation. The bright minds at Festo already developed the original in the early 1960s.

ROTEX (1979)

Systainer (1993)

Further pioneering products entered the market, including the ROTEX (1979), which was the first geared eccentric sander in the world to combine three functions (coarse sanding, fine sanding and polishing) in one tool. The legendary Systainer, developed in 1993 as reusable tool packaging, wrote its own story of success as a variable storage and transport system now offering 185 different versions.

In 2000, the owner family spun off the power tools business unit from Festo, continuing to manage it as an independent company with the name Festool GmbH. The newly founded Festool GmbH found a new home in Wendlingen – halfway between Esslingen and the Neidlingen production site. The new business did not start from scratch, of course. The essence of Festool is and will continue to be what our products have always demonstrated. Legacy: Pragmatism and absolute quality awareness – with the "made in Germany" label. Drive: The development of innovative tools and systems – with and for customers. Products: Innovative and user-oriented, robust and extremely long-lasting.

DOMINO wood jointing system (2006)

It is these guiding principles that have allowed Festool to become an established name in the international power tool market. The company created further products and system solutions that changed craftsmanship for good and have been recognised for their outstanding ergonomics and product design, for example the DOMINO wood jointing system (2006), the PLANEX LHS 225 long-reach sander with adjustable vacuum suction (2008), the cordless CSC SYS 50 table saw in a Systainer format and, most recently, the ExoActive exoskeleton that actively lends a helping hand.

PLANEX LHS 225

CSC SYS 50

Festool 18V products

Festool Service ensures that products make work easier for many years – across the entire service life: In 2013, Festool was the first and only provider in the industry to introduce a free three-year warranty package that includes all wear parts and theft protection, thereby protecting customers from unexpected costs during the first three years.

The tool manufacturer is also extraordinarily committed to occupational health and safety. Festool is not only considered to be a pioneer when it comes to dust extraction: Innovative technologies like SawStop-AIM, KickbackStop or the Vibration Control System improve occupational health and safety for tradespeople while sawing, drilling or sanding.

QUADRIVE TPC and TDC 18/4 cordless drills

100 years of Festool: "The work of many hands"

"The fact that so many of our products and innovations have left their mark on professional craftsmanship in the past 100 years is something we can we really proud of," says a pleased Barbara Austel, Chair of the Festool Supervisory Board and granddaughter of founder Gottlieb Stoll. "But primarily we want to use the occasion of our anniversary to say thank you: Thank you to our employees and to the many customers who have supported us through the years."

Founder Gottlieb Stoll shaped and fostered progress at the company for more than five decades. And yet he always emphasised: "Festool is the work of many hands! Our success is the achievement of all of us." This appreciation of employees, but also of customers, continues to play a central role, as Sascha Menges, CEO of Festool GmbH, emphasises: "Our company has always stood for innovation and for continuously creating better solution for professional trade work together with our customers. That is written in the DNA of Festool and our more than 2600 employees. Without them, we never would have been able to achieve such success."

This success story also includes a clear commitment to Germany and the headquarters in Wendlingen: "Our development takes place in Wendlingen. We produce around 80 percent of our Festool machines in Germany. That is an essential pillar for our success," explains Sascha Menges.

Barbara Austel, Chair of the Festool Supervisory Board and granddaughter of founder Gottlieb Stoll.

Here's to the future: "Welcome to the next 100 years!"

With nearly 900 patents and more than 60 iF DESIGN AWARDS, Festool is now among the undisputed market leaders as an expert for professional carpentry, timber construction and paint work. For Barbara Austel, the 100th anniversary is the perfect occasion to look to the past with gratitude and to the future with optimism: "Our history the history of a family, the history of a company, and also a little piece of the history of craftsmanship as a whole. Seeing tradition as the strong roots from which something new can grow time and again – that has always been our strength. And that is why we are using our anniversary as an opportunity to look towards the future: Welcome to the next 100 years!" The company will be celebrating its anniversary throughout the year with employees at the international locations – and of course with the Festool customers. You can look forward to limited editions, exclusive versions of selected products that have played a particularly important role in the company history – offered in strictly limited numbers.

For more information on "100 years of Festool" and Festool's history, see the attachments or visit festool.co.uk/festool100