Gerry Weber: Fashion pioneer and tennis fan Gerhard Weber has died

Gerhard Weber has built a fashion empire.

In 2014 he withdrew from the operational business and had to witness the bankruptcy in 2019.

For many years he made headlines in another area.

Halle / Westphalia - In a difficult time for the industry,

celebrated

his 75th birthday in 2016.

The co-founder of the fashion group

had set up a company out of nowhere that had long been one of the big names in women's clothing.

At peak times, the

listed in the SDax

scratched the

turnover limit of one billion euros.

In 2014

the operational business in the hands of his son Ralf.

As a member of the supervisory board, he was still close to the decisions until October 2018 - until the family lost all influence on the company in 2019.

died

on Thursday night

.

The entrepreneur and big sports fan from

in

was 79 years old.

Gerry Weber: The co-founder had to watch the fashion chain decline

Weber

already had to see his son announce tough cuts in March 2016.

For the realignment, management cut every tenth of 7,000 jobs.

100 out of 1000 branches were also lost.

However, that was not enough.

More closings followed and even more drastic job cuts.

In 2019

filed for bankruptcy on his own.

New investors took over.

With the turn of the year 2019/2020 this step was completed - and the shares of the founding family were worthless.

The Webers were out.

How much did the company founder suffer from the decline of the

brand

?

“I feel with you here.

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

the German Press Agency on his 75th birthday.

But it doesn't help: In view of the development in the entire fashion industry, the cuts are inevitable.

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

Unusually open to managers, his son spoke of his own mistakes.

Internally, however, the father gave himself a great complicity.

Much earlier he would have had to take countermeasures, as his companions quote.

“It is now important for the new generation to make the most of the upheaval in the industry.

The subject of fashion is certainly much more complex today and therefore more difficult to manage than it was 50 years ago, ”says

.

At that time he founded

the Gerry Weber forerunner,

together with

.

Weber told the news magazine “Der Spiegel” in February 2019: “The life's work is not over yet.

I believe that we are on the way to how we can save the company. ”At the beginning of 2020 the company was saved - but without the doer

.

“I'm not the type to say I have nothing to do with it,” he says.

It is annoying that he also made mistakes.

This included the construction of a new and much too large logistics center that went into operation in 2015.

That led to an imbalance.

His sales target of one billion euros was also wrong.

As a result, Weber kept opening new stores - without looking at the costs.

Low-cost providers and online retailers put fashion chains under pressure

In addition to the problems of the entire industry - keyword low-cost providers and online trading -

failed to rejuvenate the collections.

At some point the offer was considered old-fashioned.

Young buyers stayed away.

Weber's business acumen was always admired by employees and companions.

Meanwhile, those around him were bothered by his sometimes quick-tempered manner. “He just knows everything better,” is the conclusion that was not only meant negatively.

In an interview with the “Neue Westfälische” on her 70th birthday,

flirted

with this know-it-all image.

He always did everything wrong, he said at the time, alluding to decisions that first met with criticism but then turned out to be correct.

That has run like a red thread through his life.

Starting with his parents, who did not understand that he wanted to open a fashion store, through the decision to build a tennis stadium in

/ Westphalia.

Gerhard Weber always had a keen sense for surprises.

The fact that he signed the future tennis legend

as an advertising ambassador before her first major victories as a 17-year-old was considered a marketing coup in 1986.

Until 2018, the men's tennis world elite met once a year on the edge of the Teutoburg Forest for the

.

The tournament has had a different name since 2019.

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