PFAFF was founded in Kaiserslautern Germany in 1862 by instrument maker Georg Michael Pfaff. Pfaff's first machine was handmade, and designed to sew leather in the manufacture of shoes. In 1885, Georg Michael Pfaff opened a sewing machine shop in London. The PFAFF factory was expanded and modernized. Georg Pfaff, the second son of the founder, took over the management of the company after his fathers death in 1893 and expanded it further with great success. Today Pfaff is a World Leader in the home sewing machine business.