Vigognespinnerei Gebrüder Roth
THE ABANDONED FACTORY IN GERMANY
‘Vigognespinnerei Gebrüder Roth’ was an abandoned textile factory in Werdau, Germany. The factory got abandoned in the early 1990s, after the fall of the iron curtain. Accordingly, the site was demolished in 2014 to make place for new housing projects.
I found this small factory during my road trip through the former East-Germany. The industrial building used to be a water-powered Vigogne spinning mill. Vigogne is a blend of both cotton and sheep’s wool. It was used originally as an imitation of Vicuña wool. Vicuñas are relatives of the llama and have an extremely fine wool, which is very expensive because the animal can only be shorn every three years and has to be caught from the wild. In fact, the wool is popular due to its warmth.
During the DDR era, home of the Vigogne spinning mills was the industrially rich Saxony. For instance the two towns Crimmitschau and Werdau produced around 30 million kilos of yarn each year.
Eventually in 2013 the building was demolished, the smokestack was blasted a year later in 2014. I visited ‘Vigognespinnerei Gebrüder Roth’ in 2011. For more abandoned textile mills, check this link.
