The Esselte Leitz GmbH & Co KG, also Leitz, is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 manufacturer of office products. The company, which is headquartered in Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

, is owned by Esselte

Esselte

Esselte is privately held company headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. It is a holding company, specializing in office products. It owns several companies, including Pendaflex, Leitz, Oxford, Xyron, Rapid, and an operating company also called Esselte....

 since 1998. Today the brand Leitz is used by Esselte mainly for filing and workspace products.

Leitz was founded 1871 by Louis Leitz

Louis Leitz

Louis Leitz is a German inventor and founder of Esselte Leitz GmbH & Co KG. He was trained woodturner who worked as a mechanic.-Biography:...

. He developed and introduced the Leitz-Ordner, i.e. the lever arch file. In 1911 the now-common round hole on the back of the file was added.