Klaus Mühlbauer is the fourth generation to take over the family business, which he has been running since 2001. Like his forefathers he is a trained hat-maker and milliner. Klaus Mühlbauer concentrates on headwear, the core business of the company. Together with his sister Marlies Mühlbauer he designs hat collections. An extremely able hat-maker and milliner team supports them in their own Viennese factory.

The new generation managed an image change around that gives Mühlbauer hats a place in the best shops and boutiques around the world, including Le Bon Marché (Paris), Harrods (London), Bergdorf Goodman (New York) and Isetan (Tokio). In Vienna, since December 2005, the hat collections can be admired and purchased in a sparkling new hat salon in the Seilergasse 10.

The parents of Klaus and Marlies, Heinz and Brigitte Mühlbauer, have both been active in the company since the early 70’s and extended the assortment, formerly concentrated on headwear in the Viennese shops to include ladies’ wear. As well as the exclusive boutique specialising in Austrian traditional dress “Leben mit Tradition”, they founded the shop label “Salto” directed at a younger customer. Since then the name Mühlbauer stands for modern ladies’ wear, as well as beautiful, handcrafted headwear.

Heinz Mühlbauer’s father Robert opened his first own hat shop in the mid-1920s. With the support of his wife Margarethe he extended the business Mühlbauer into a family company. From 1960 father Robert and son Heinz Mühlbauer ran the company together. The company Mühlbauer received a new image and Mühlbauer became a brand name for headwear of the highest quality.

The founding stone for the over-100 year old company story was laid by Robert Mühlbauer’s mother Julianna in the year 1903 with a small millinery and adjoining shop in Floridsdorf, a suburb of Vienna.