LIEBIEG, Johann

L. finished apprenticeship for cloth merchant in Broumov. In 1818 he went to Liberec as a weaver's assistant and settled down. In 1825 he and his brother Franz founded the company The L. brothers and were initially selling cloth by the metre, but in the same year began producing their own cloth. In 1825 and later in 1827 L. travelled to England and France, from where he brought patterns of cloth, which he later weaved himself.
In 1828 L. purchased the Clam-Gallas textile materials from the Ballabene company in Liberec, which was upgraded and modernized so that it could produce large quantities of cloth. Later he turned his attention to the production of special English cloth, such as merino, lasting and tibet. After purchasing a steam engine and gas lighting fixtures, L’s factory was considered the most important textile production plant in Europe since 1830.
After his brother Franz left the joint venture, L. changed company’s name to Johann L. & Co., which he from 1841 on managed himself. The same year he opened wholesale trade for export purposes and his own bank in Vienna. In 1843 he was the first to introduce English mohair and orleans to the market of Central Europe. The business expansion plans in 1840s included a new mechanical weaving factory (1845), laundry for cotton-based fabrics in Savrov, which was considered the largest and most modern in Central Europe, and a smaller one near Haratic (1851) and cotton factory in Železný Brod (1861/65). He expanded his business also to other areas.
Together with Vojtěch →Lann and the Klein brothers he was involved in the construction of railways from Liberec to Pardubice between 1856 and 1859, which had significant advantages for his company. His business interests went beyond textile industry: slate was excavated in the Radičice near Železný Brod, in Smrča near Železný Brod he opened a lime kiln and in Böhmerwald and Transylvania he opened a factory for production of glass. At his estate in Smirnice he built the saw-mill, a brewery and a sugar factory.


L. was the first president of the Chamber of Commerce of Liberec (1851-1856). In 1866 he gave the company to his sons Johann junior, Heinrich and Theodor, and retired from business life. His uncle Theodore L. junior was one of the pioneers of motoring in the Czech Republic.