Most Americans are unaware of the revolution that occurred in Hungary in 1956. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had begun openly criticizing Joseph Stalin’s ideas, and this “deStalinization” inspired a generation of people living in communist Hungary to seek more personal freedoms.
They elected Imre Nagy as Premier and on November 1, 1956, Hungary declared their neutrality and appealed to the UN for support and public recognition. They did not receive it.
Three days later, on November 4, 1956, Soviet tanks invaded Hungary. Two years later, Nagy was executed for treason.
During this turbulent time of revolution between Rebels and Soviets, many citizens caught in the middle would flee the country they called home for the safety of another land far away; the United States of America. (You can read more about their revolution here.)
As a child, Royal Case founder Zoltan Pocza Sr. ran the one-mile safe zone between Austria and Hungary with family members, evading guards in towers along the way, only to spend months wandering around in Europe with no money, in one refugee camp after another. Eventually they would get on a plane to the United States. This plane would have to make an emergency landing in Iceland due to mechanical failure.
They took only what they could carry. It was a difficult choice, leaving their homeland, their possessions, and the life they knew. Some family members changed their minds, turning away from the safety of Austria at the last minute to sneak back into Hungary. Zoltan’s family did not turn back.
In their new country, they did what they had learned in the old: kept their heads low, worked hard and drew no unnecessary attention. Zoltan’s family settled in Indiana, and his first job was at a local sewing factory. There he met his future wife, a Texas native. Eventually, the temperate climate and strong economy drew them to relocate to her hometown of Sherman, Texas, just down the road from the birthplace of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the president who had helped make the Pocza’s American life possible.
Becoming an OEM manufacturer just made sense from the point of view of our owners. It turns out, you can make a company and employ many people who live to help others get the limelight and become successful. We refer to that as being ‘Greater Together’.
We’ll take care of the behind the scenes details that are necessary to make and have successful products in the market place. Things like language barriers, quality control, and shipping logistics aren’t complicated issues when you have a footprint in major manufacturing countries like China, Thailand, Myanmar, India and Mexico. That’s how we’re able to ensure your success. We’ve worked out all the kinks in the production chain long ago by owning and operating these facilities.
Today Royal Case maintains a sewing division in Sherman for our domestic production of soft sewn products. We also are able to make those same items overseas for our customers who are more cost sensitive. In addition to our longer history of sewing production, we have a couple of plastics manufacturing facilities nearby that create our plastic hard cases and custom foam. Royal Case also rotomolds and creates custom ATA cases as well, in North Texas.
In 1982, Mr. Pocza incorporated Royal Case Company in Sherman, Texas, which is conveniently located less than one hour from Dallas and the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. The company has 2,000 employees globally and over 500,000 square feet of factory and warehousing space at the U.S. location, manufacturing the highest quality custom carrying cases, for quick turn-around, specifically for the USA market.
No one sells more custom bags and custom cases in America. Our success is not only due to quality products and reasonable prices, but our service is also second to none. We’re laser focused on helping you achieve your manufacturing goals and we know once your products meet our service, we’ll be Greater Together.
The Condition 1 brand name was born on September 19, 2008. The term “condition 1” is a weapons readiness term and you can see the history of that online at Wikipedia. We use it as our brand name for a line of quality products that protect a wide variety of items. Our products protect yours, so that you can go and have a life and not have to worry about them. When you wrap your items in Condition 1, Now you’re ready.
Maybe it’s the rebellion in Hungary back in 1956, or maybe we just liked the name. “Rebel” is short for “rebellion”, but we’re using it as a brand name that rebels against high prices. We don’t think you shouldn’t have to pay for left-coast or right-coast style overhead for ‘little bits of plastic’ and other materials. Instead, spend a little money with us and save the rest for your play time.