About us

WFT History

Our start

The origins of the company WFT go back to 1999 when Christian Dibisch, a product developer with many years of experience in the angling sector, received an offer from the renowned company PENN, USA, to become a distributor for the German-speaking region. He approached his friend Frank Boermann, who in turn ran a long-established wholesale company, and asked him if they would like to run this business together. They quickly agreed and founded PENN Deutschland GmbH together with their American friends.

The development

The beginnings were still modest. At that time, all business processes, right down to packing the parcels in the old table tennis room, were still a “matter for the boss”. But due to the good relations with PENN Europe in Scotland and the owner of PENN USA, Herbert Henze, many products were developed very quickly especially for the German market and PENN Deutschland GmbH established itself in a short time as a specialist especially for marine fishing.

Unfortunately, due to his age, Herbert Henze sold his company in 2003. With the new owners in America came new ideas and new decisions. Among other things, the decision was made to divest all foreign holdings. Thus, after lengthy negotiations, World Fishing Tackle GmbH & Co. KG was founded at the end of 2004, which from then on was operated 100% by Christian Dibisch and Frank Boermann. With the new independence, it was now possible to take on other agencies in addition to the distribution of PENN products. Directly in 2005, a commercial agreement was reached with the Japanese company RYOBI and WFT was able to establish Japanese electric reels for deep-sea fishing in Norway on the German market for the first time. Further agencies followed.

WFT Today

But the company also pushed ahead with its own developments. Over the years, WFT has been able to enrich the market again and again with products that have new, unique features, some of which are patented. Probably the greatest development work has gone into the WFT line programme. Today, line series such as the KG Plasma or the KG Strong are among the best-selling lines in Germany and are now also established in many parts of Europe. With the last line development, the Gliss KG, the international demand became so great that contracts were also signed with distribution partners in Australia, the USA and many other countries.

Today, WFT consists of a team of 20, has a programme of over 2,500 products and, equipped with the latest scanner technology, delivers from high-bay or shelf storage to over 50 countries around the world.