These German brands are celebrating an anniversary

A year full of birthdays: From Marc Cain to Eterna to Puma – these German brands are celebrating anniversaries in 2023. And the trade fairs of the Premium Group also have reason to celebrate. FashionUnited takes a look at the company stories and also shows you how the brands celebrate their birthdays.

A look into the past

1973 was a special year because two big companies came to life here: The clothing manufacturer Gerry weber and the fashion provider Marc Cain.

The brothers Gerhard Weber and Udo Hardieck founded their company for the production of women’s trousers – at that time still under the name Hatex KG. The brothers quickly expanded the product portfolio, moved production from Halle to neighboring Steinhagen-Brockhagen and also began producing abroad. In 1986 the brand was renamed Gerry Weber, in 1999 the first ‘House of Gerry Weber’ opened and just six years later the brand’s online shop went online. Today, the 50-year-old company is managed by CEO and CEO Angelika Schindler-Obenhaus and CFO Florian Frank.

Gerry Weber is currently in financial difficulties and now wants to rehabilitate and restructure itself. The reason for the financial problems are the closures of the shops due to the pandemic and the changed buying behavior of customers due to the high inflation. On its birthday, the company received the certificate of honor from the IHK for company anniversaries: “With all the current challenges, we are particularly pleased that we seem to have struck a chord. With our product, which, as in the past, stands for a good fit and high quality. Which underlines the individual personality of its wearer and lets her shine.”, Gerry Weber thanked on LinkedIn.

Marc Cain is also looking forward to 50 years of company history this year. Founder Helmut Schlotterer realized his vision of his own knitwear brand in Capri, Italy: “After my exams I went to Italy to learn from the fashion companies there. On site, I had only one goal: to build my own fashion brand. Back in Bodelshausen, I worked an awful lot at first because I really wanted to be successful. When the second collection really took off, I knew I’d made it,” the founder said in a statement. Schlotterer is still at the head of the company, which is still based in Baden-Württemberg. The brand now offers knitwear and women’s outerwear, operates 144 stores in a total of 27 countries and employs over 855 people in Germany alone.

To mark the anniversary, the design team created a 50-piece collection that reflects the label’s DNA: The focus is on knitwear and the love of leopard prints. The anniversary campaign and the sale of the collection will start in September.

From Herzogenaurach to Bremen

The origins of the sporting goods manufacturer puma go back a few years: In 1919, the brothers Rudolf and Adolf Dassler founded the Gebrüder Dassler shoe factory in Herzogenaurach. 28 years later the brothers separated and in January 1948 Rudolf Dassler registered his own company, Sportschuhfabrik Rudolf Dassler (Ruda), which started operations in June of the same year. The Puma brand was born from this in October. In 1968, the brand showed off its signature logo for the first time, with the puma jumping over the top right corner of the lettering. In the company’s 75-year history, the brand can look back on a number of historical moments: Puma, for example, developed the first football shoe with screw-in studs in 1952 and Olympic champion Usain Bolt set numerous world records in Puma spikes – the sports company is celebrating the anniversary year with various events under the motto “Forever Faster”.

On an even longer history eterna look: The shirt manufacturer has existed for 16 decades. In 1863, Bernhard Hönigsberg founded a haberdashery shop on Fleischmarkt in Vienna together with Salomon Singer. The two entrepreneurs quickly sold more than just tailoring supplies and began manufacturing underwear and shirts. The Eterna brand name emerged from an invention: the entrepreneurs developed a semi-rigid, loose collar that could be buttoned onto a stand-up collar shirt. The collar’s trade name was Eterna – due to the success of the invention it later became the brand name. In the 1920s, the label moved to Passau, where it still has its headquarters today. On the occasion of its 160th birthday, Eterna regularly publishes new stories from the company’s history and launched the Generation collection with clothing for children and adults.

Also the shoe seller Lloyd’s Shoes GmbH can show more than 100 years of company history. In May, the brand celebrated its 135th anniversary in the founding city of Bremen and launched a limited capsule collection for the occasion. The shoe factory that laid the foundation for the later brand was founded by HF Meyer in 1888. In May 1905 the company was officially registered and in 1927 the brand received its current name. The traditional company is now active in 48 countries with around 2,800 points of sale.

streetwear and fairs

Smaller anniversaries are still being celebrated this year snipes, Thom by Thomas Rath and the fashion fairs of Premium Group.

Cologne-based streetwear retailer Snipes turns 25 this year and to celebrate the occasion, they are releasing a capsule collection in collaboration with brands Karl Kani and Pegador. Actor Wesley Snipes is in front of the camera for the birthday campaign and tells the story and vision of the retail chain.