One of the new owners of the Brabant shoe brand Van Lier from Loon op Zand wants to continue with the company, but without physical stores. “We think of an outlet,” says the new owner.
Last Wednesday, many Van Lier subsidiaries were declared bankrupt. The mother holding alone was not bankrupt. He appeared to have been sold to Fairmont Capital shortly before, of which fashion entrepreneur Nick De Ronde Bresser is one of the shareholders. Together with an investor Horizon Capital, he also made a restart this week with the partly bankrupt company.
New course
The fashion entrepreneur founded the Mipacha shoe brand thirteen years ago. He gets the daily management of Van Lier. De Ronde Bresser wants to continue with the shoe brand, but without physical stores. With the fashion entrepreneur as a co-owner, Van Lier will focus on online sales. This also means that the distribution will be outsourced to another company. “We are thinking of an outlet. The idea is to invest heavily in marketing, collaborations and of course new collections,” says De Ronde Bresser.
According to the new co-owner, the basis of the shoe brand is strong, because customers are faithful to Van Lier and often have a special bond with it. “It is also the oldest shoe company in the Netherlands. It seemed very cool to play a role in that.”
History
Van Lier was founded in 1815 by Goyert van Lier in Loon op Zand. Partly due to his initiative, our province, and especially the Langstraat, became the pivot of the Dutch shoe industry. Van Lier became best known for the neat leather men’s shoes that it brought it on the market.
In 2023 the company went to the fair and the head office from Loon op Zand moved to Breda. Sharing sale was less successful than the company hoped. Critics called the share too expensive.
In conversation with employees
The seven own stores that the company had, including in Roosendaal, closed their doors earlier this year. With the new course of the company, not all employees in the Netherlands can probably stay with Van Lier. About twenty people worked for bankrupt companies. De Ronde Bresser indicates that he is in conversation with five people about a role at Van Lier.
“It is regrettable that people lose their jobs in the Netherlands, but for the future of Van Lier we really had to be lighter set-up have “, he explains.
The manufacturers of Van Lier shoes in Portugal and India are retained as a supplier. “Those are really crazy manufacturers who have grown up with Van Lier.” The new owners aim to sell as much shoe as before: around 150,000 pairs a year.