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Gerry Weber: fashion pioneer and sports fan Gerhard Weber has died

2020-09-24T15:18:12.973Z


Gerhard Weber, founder of the well-known fashion chain Gerry Weber, died at the age of 79. The entrepreneur had also caused a stir in sport. The tennis tournament in Halle was his idea.


Gerhard Weber, founder of the well-known fashion chain Gerry Weber, died at the age of 79.

The entrepreneur had also caused a stir in sport.

The tennis tournament in Halle was his idea.

Gerhard Weber

died in the night from Wednesday to Thursday at the age of 79, the company said.

Weber, who founded the fashion empire from the Westphalian province in 1973 with his partner

Udo Hardieck

, had not been involved in the company since last year.

In the course of the restructuring of the ailing fashion manufacturer, he, like all existing shareholders, left the company without compensation in the course of a restructuring capital cut.

Weber

had shaped the company's fashion style for decades.

He was also known through the tennis tournament in

Halle

in Westphalia,

named after the company

.

The entrepreneur had already handed over the operative business to his son Ralf in 2014 and withdrew into retirement.

As a member of the supervisory board, however, he was still closely associated with the provider of women's outerwear based in Halle / Westphalia, which was listed in the SDax, until October 2018.

At peak times Gerry Weber scratched sales at the limit of one billion euros.

In 2019, however, the company founder lost all influence after the company's insolvency.

In addition to fashion, Gerhard Weber was also known for his commitment to sports

Weber was also known for his sporting activities.

The later world-class player S

teffi Graf signed

Gerhard Weber as an advertising ambassador at the age of 17, before her first major successes.

Today the tennis world elite meets once a year on the edge of the Teutoburg Forest to prepare for

Wimbledon

.

Before his 75th birthday in March 2016,

Gerhard Weber

had to see his son announce tough cuts.

Like almost the entire fashion industry, the company could not avoid a realignment.

Management cut every tenth of 7,000 jobs and gave up 100 of the 1,000 branches.

In the end, however, that wasn't enough either.

More closings followed and even more drastic job cuts.

After the self-directed insolvency,

Gerry Weber started again in

2020 with new investors.

But the founders no longer had any influence.

Gerhard Weber admitted himself to be largely complicit in the insolvency of the fashion chain

“I feel with you here.

After all, I have also spent many years with these employees, we have already experienced a lot together, ”said

Gerhard Weber of

the German Press Agency on his 75th birthday before the bankruptcy.

Internally, Father Gerhard gave himself a great complicity.

He too would have had to take countermeasures much earlier, as companions quoted him at the time.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-09-24

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