History
- 1892
- Albin Wunderlich — First of family line of embroiderers started his factory in Oelsnitz, Germany.
- 1909
- Kurt Erwin Conrad (Son-in-law of Albin) — Established his own factory in Plauen, Germany.
- 1929
- E. Henry Conrad (Son of Kurt) — Emigrates to USA and finds employment in embroidery factories in New Jersey.
- 1941
- E. Henry Conrad opens his first embroidery factory in Union City, NJ. Produces US Armed Forces insignia and acts as designer and pattern maker for other insignia manufacturers. Also designs and produces ladies' outer and under wear embroidery.
- 1949
- E. Henry Conrad turns entirely to manufacture of commercial emblems and changes his company name to A-B Emblem Corporation (A stands for his daughter's name, Annerose; B stands for his son's name, Bernhard).
- 1962
- E. Henry Conrad made the first official NASA patch, known as "the meatball".
- 1963
- E. Henry Conrad relocates A-B Emblem to a new, 22,600 sq. foot factory in Weaverville, NC
- 1969
- A-B Emblem becomes the sole contractor for Nasa for all space patches, with the launch of Apollo II.
- 1971
- Bernhard Conrad (Son of E. Henry)—After years of training in the USA and South America in addition to service with A-B Emblem, becomes President of the company.
- 1976
- After three additions, A-B Emblem's factory now encompasses 57,600 sq. ft. and employs 160 people.
- 1980
- Old German-made Schiffli embroidery machines in the factory begin to be replaced by new Japanese technology in the form of multi-head machines.
- 1982
- Conrad Industries opens a cut and sew baseball cap factory next to Weaverville emblem factory. (Closes in 1996)
- 1991
- Fifth generation Paul Conrad (son of Bernhard) comes to work at Conrad Industries, also after years of training in South America, Australia, and the Weaverville factory.
- 1995
- Emblemas Bordados—Conrad Industries' Mexican facility, opens in Tecali, Mexico.
- 2006
- Qingdao Emblem Manufacturing, Co. Ltd.—Conrad Industries' Chinese facility, opens in Laixi, China.
- 2013
- Celebrating 50 years of USA Made manufacturing in Weaverville, North Carolina.
- 2017
- Brother-in-laws Paul Conrad and Andrew Nagle are named Co-CEO’s.
