Who we are
Two companies – one vision
Everyone is sure to know one of our strong brands from Bielefeld: Alpecin, Alcina, Plantur, Karex, Linola, Bioniq® and Vagisan. Be it through popular TV commercials and striking advertising slogans such as “Thank you Lino”, “Doping for your hair” or by visiting a pharmacy or drugstore. We are a Bielefeld-based family business in its fourth generation with around 875 employees. Even though we like to speak of “Dr. Wolff”, strictly speaking we are two different companies with Dr. Kurt Wolff (cosmetics division) and Dr. August Wolff (medical division).
At Dr. Kurt Wolff, we develop hair care and styling products, hair dyes, skin care and decorative cosmetics as well as dental care. Its the home of our brands Alcina, Alpecin, Bioniq® Repair-Toothpaste, Karex and Plantur.
Dr. August Wolff produces dermatological and gynaecological pharmaceuticals as well as medical and cosmetic products for the Vagisan and Linola brands.
As a medium-sized business, we are surrounded by large multinational companies in East Westphalia. But we are different. We dare to tackle issues that no one else dares to tackle, and we take paths that no one else treads: founded more than 100 years ago as a small factory for the production of pharmaceuticals, we are now one of the largest medium-sized family businesses in the German pharmaceutical and cosmetics market.
Dr. Wolff, or in other words: breaking taboos in Bielefeld
Hair loss, neurodermatitis, vaginal dryness or caries are topics that others do not like to talk about, but we do! The problem solving products from our Bielefeld-based research department are a releave all over the world as we are active in more than 60 countries. Would you like to know some more figures, data and facts about us?
Markets and locations
From Bielefeld to the world: our products are produced and distributed in the town of Bielefeld. Here we work from a total of three locations: in Johanneswerkstraße, in Sudbrackstraße and Stadtheiderstraße. From here, creams, shampoos and pastes find their way across various national borders. Our products are now available in more than 60 countries across the world.
In 2013 and 2016, Dr. Wolff opened its own offices in Asia. First in Singapore, where ten employees work today, and in 2016 also in Shanghai to serve the Chinese market. Eduard R. Dörrenberg himself lived in Singapore for a while to personally drive the growth in Asia.
Due to cultural conditions, the Asian market offers great potential. In particular, full male hair is considered a status symbol of strength. In addition, there is great confidence in German products. Accordingly, not only the slogan “German Engineering for Your Hair” but also the product quality of Alpecin caffeine shampoos is well received by Asians. The brands Plantur, Linola, Vagisan and Bioniq® were successively launched in Asia, too.
Highlights 2018
60,000 shampoo bottles were sold in China on Singles Day 2018 alone.
Over 200,000,000 caffeine shampoos had been sold by 2018. The first bottle went over the counter in 2004.
Did you know that ...
we are considered the largest purchaser of the raw material caffeine after Red Bull?
Dr. A. Klenk who appears in our advertisements really exists? He is “indeed” not an actor, but used to be our longtime head of research.