This year, Festool is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Festool’s power tools have evolved from the first portable chainsaw in the early 1930s to the ExoActive exoskeleton in 2024. The company says it will celebrate a century of revolutionary products and solutions over the course of 2025.
“Since 1925, we have revolutionized professional trade work with tools that are built better to help professionals build better,” said Clint Chapman, chief executive officer at Festool North America. “Every new tool we design begins with a customer challenge and a commitment to innovate and build better solutions. This dedication is part of our company’s DNA, and we invite tradespeople to join us for the next one hundred years of growth and product evolution.”
Festool’s journey began in Germany in 1925 when Albert Fezer and Gottlieb Stoll founded a company to repair stationary wood processing machines. First introduced as Fezer & Stoll, the company became Festo, and its power tool division later evolved into Festool. From the start, the company says it has focused on providing tradespeople with high-quality tools to make work better and more efficient. Through close collaboration with trade professionals, the company states it has consistently developed tools and systems tailored to the specific needs of the trade.
Following the launch of its portable chainsaw in 1927, Festool introduced the SB126, the first portable circular saw for carpenters in 1930. In 1966, Festool introduced the first orbital 
sander, replacing tedious and time-consuming work with a more efficient solution. This led to the development of the world’s first dust extraction system to prioritize the health and safety of tradespeople and their customers. The 1960s also brought forth the introduction of Festool’s guide rail.
Festool pioneered the ROTEX in 1979, the first geared random orbit sander in the world to combine coarse sanding, fine sanding, and polishing in a single tool. In 1993, the company launched the Systainer, a storage, organization, and transportation system that is now available in 185 different versions.
Entering the 2000s, Festool introduced the DOMINO wood joining system (2006), the PLANEX LHS 225 drywall sander with adjustable vacuum suction (2008), and the cordless CSC SYS 50 table saw in Systainer Format (2023).
“The fact that so many of our products and innovations have left their mark on professional trades in the past one hundred years is something we are really proud of,” said Barbara Austel, chair of the Festool Supervisory Board and granddaughter of founder Gottlieb Stoll. “Primarily, we want to use the occasion of our anniversary to say thank you: thank you to our employees and to the many customers who have supported us through the years.”
Festool will celebrate throughout 2025 with limited-edition releases and exclusive versions of select products. For more information about Festool’s 100-year anniversary, visit: festoolusa.com/festool100.