Garbolino

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With a history that spans more than 70 years, GARBOLINO is without any doubt one of the most reputable brands in France and Europe.  GARBOLINO was established by Henri GARBOLINO in 1945, in the last days of the Second World War. From its state-of-the-art manufacturing plant, just outside of Paris, GARBOLINO started producing alloy fishing poles that were unlike anything any angler of the time had ever seen before. In the many decades that followed, GARBOLINO would grow to be known as a pioneer and innovator in pole production, and today is a market leader for top end poles as well as trout and predatory fishing rods. Many of the products we now take for granted were the brain-children of GARBOLINO’s expert design and engineering team, and margin poles, extendible potting kits, pellet presses, pole packages, and method feeder molds are just some of the many products we would be without had it not been for GARBOLINO.

It hasn’t been a smooth and painless journey.

Although the company grew steadily over the first fifteen years, it wasn’t until 1960 that the company really became known as a pioneer and great innovator. GARBOLINO was the first pole production company in the world to introduce (the then-brand new material) known as fiberglass, to its manufacturing process. The material known as fiberglass had many benefits, but the main benefit for any pole construction was the weight of the material. Fiberglass was so much lighter than the alloy (that the majority of pole production companies used back then), and the move to include it in GARBOLINO’s pole production positioned the company at the top in pole fishing technology. By 1965, GARBOLINO had completely reconfigured its manufacturing process and were producing poles without any metal in them whatsoever. More than ten years after the company continued to expand, all the time focusing production on the top-quality fiberglass poles for coarse and match anglers.

By 1977, almost three years after the founder Henri has retired, the first carbon fiber rods and poles began to appear on the fishing tackle market. This was set to once again disrupt and revolutionize the tackle industry, and allowed fishing poles to become slimmer, lighter and longer. That caught GARBOLINO by surprise and despite GARBOLINO’s adjustments, the company could not compete with the pace of the new technology that was springing out of the Far East tackle factories, and for almost a decade the company was in deep crisis. GARBOLINO was being squeezed out of a market it had created and owned, unable to compete with the low prices of their Far Eastern competitors.

In 1988 the company, with new CEO Paul-Henri Viellard, created the revolutionary Viper Process. This represented a huge step forward and a major breakthrough in carbon fiber production – allowing the carbon fiber to be weaved together via an automated, computerized system. Previously the carbon fiber sheets had to be produced manually, and this new computer controlled system optimized the manufacturing process, creating incredibly strong and durable poles. GARBOLINO were once again considered pioneers and innovators in the pole industry.

Fast forward a decade later, and GARBOLINO was not only working at the top end of pole and rods production and producing poles of outstanding lengths (up to 16 meters), but also opening new factories worldwide. The new Slovakian factory enabled Grabolino to maintain its exclusive pedigree by producing poles made in Europe that could compete with the low costs of the Far Eastern rival factories.

Today, GARBOLINO continues to be an innovator in the pole industry, thanks largely to the abundance of fishing knowledge it has acquired and permanently has access to- allowing for new ideas to constantly turn anglers’ dreams into realities.

Learn more here: http://www.garbolino.fr/