DONAU is a brand of PBS Holding AG, based in Wels, Austria, and has a long tradition in the office and school supplies sector.

DONAU moves you throughout your life – our products accompany you from toddler to mature adulthood.

Who are we?

Since taking over the brand rights in 2016, a passionate Austrian team from PBS Holding and PBS Austria from the areas of product management, design, graphics, purchasing, sales, IT, logistics and social media has been the driving force behind DONAU products.

Why is a fresh wind blowing at Donau?

Our first task was to analyze the existing range. In doing so, we sorted out a lot, got rid of some outdated products and at the same time launched many new school articles.

In keeping with the spirit of optimism, the traditional Donau logo was stripped of all its bars and reduced to the essentials. We also took on the packaging, developed a new design and gradually implemented it for all products.

In order to become more visible, the next goal was to develop their own website, followed by social media presences on Facebook and Instagram.

However, we are not only concerned with the brand image, the new and further development of our products has been and continues to be very important. Together with designers, we create a new school collection every year, improve the quality and functionality of existing products, develop new products and reduce unnecessary packaging material.

How is our new school collection created?

There is a lot to tell at this point and it is always exciting to follow the path from the idea to the finished product.

In winter, we start looking for ideas at trade fairs and markets, supported by trend scouts and designers. In spring, we select the products and motifs for our new school collection. Our target group – children and young people – have an important say in this. We show our colleagues’ children the designs and let them, their friends and even whole school classes choose their favorites.

Drafting and detailing through to the print-ready design take place in Wels. The production itself is carried out by various manufacturers who are long-standing cooperation partners of ours. In the fall, the new school collection will be presented at the PBS Austria trade fair in Wels and will then be available in brick-and-mortar stores or online stores.

What are our Danube highlights so far?

As is often the case in life, we sometimes work according to the principle of trial and error. With product innovations in particular, not everything always works out as planned; we often have to go through several development loops before we are satisfied with the result.

To name a few examples …

Animals on Black

Our first series in 2017, implemented on folders, ring binders and college pads, was a great success and sold out within a short space of time. Super Frog, the star among the animal motifs, was discovered by us by chance and is a little out of the ordinary, but that’s what made it so popular with children and adults alike.

Always something new

After a successful series, it is not easy to find something new with which we can both surprise and impress. We succeeded with Animals Statement and Color Splash (2018), Elements and Trees (2019), Shine and Nature (2020) and we will soon be presenting our new collection Abstract and Flower Fantasy (2021).

ÖKO folder gray cardboard

The idea was an environmentally friendly folder made of natural materials, but not just boring brown or gray, but printed with colorful motifs. We spent several months working with various manufacturers on implementation options with different cover materials and print colors. However, we were unable to find a satisfactory solution – until one of the manufacturers suggested that we dispense with the outer cover on the binder altogether and print directly on the core of the binder, recycled gray cardboard. The result is impressive and has been awarded the Austrian Ecolabel and Blue Angel.

FLIP folder … From the idea to the patent

February 5, 2020: 16-year-old student Peter attends an HTBLA in Lower Austria and prefers to use folders rather than exercise books in class. He puts worksheets directly into the folder, fills them in there and writes the learning material on insert sheets in the folder.

Unfortunately, the desks at school are not very big. If he sits at the desk on the right, the open folder disturbs the person sitting next to him. If he moves to the left-hand seat, the folder cover protrudes over the desk and blocks the center aisle.

In his free time, Peter likes to tinker and think about how to simplify or optimize everyday things. That’s why he also thinks about how he could solve his “space dilemma” with the folder.

One day he has a brilliant idea – he bends the front cover of the folder in half. His classmates initially think it’s a joke when he shows them the bent folder. But after a few weeks of use, his friends are thrilled with the idea.

The folded folder fulfills its purpose perfectly, but with the torn folded edge it doesn’t look great. So Peter thinks about whether he could get a company interested in his idea. He generally likes to use Donau products at school and is therefore familiar with the Donau website. He writes to us via the contact form and tells us about his revolutionary idea …

Donau accepts the challenge and, together with a European manufacturer, develops the idea into a market-ready product within a few months.

It wasn’t always easy, we had to go through several loops and make adjustments until we were satisfied with the result. After the first presentation at the PBS Austria sales fair in fall 2020, our original cooperation partner could not and did not want to continue the project due to economic and personal tragic events – we had an innovative finished product, but no producer.

Give up or carry on? We opted for the latter and found a new manufacturer where our folder can now be produced.

We have had the Donau folder patented in Austria, patent number AT523537 is already legally valid.

We are proud of our FLIP … the first folder that can be folded 360°, takes up only 50% of the desk space and can also be used as a clipboard.