Chiemsee (sporting goods)

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Chiemsee GmbH & Co. KG
legal form GmbH & Co. KG
founding 1982
Seat Norderstedt , Germany
management Cornelia Schmidt
Branch Sporting goods, clothing
Website www.chiemsee.com

The Chiemsee GmbH & Co. KG , based in Norderstedt (until 2011: Bernau am Chiemsee ) is the holding company of the WSC Windsurfing Chiemsee GmbH & Co KG , whose main brand Windsurfing Chiemsee or WOODY 1982 initially as hard goods brand for ( wind -) Surfer was founded in Grabenstätt am Chiemsee and eventually devoted himself to snowboarding . From 1984 the company also offered fashionable, functional sportswear and leisure clothing as well as accessories in the upper price segment, which the young target group also enjoyed as a status symbol apart from sports , and was thus able to show steady sales growth until the mid-1990s . Since 2003, the Chiemsee company has been owned by the Norderstedter Schmidt Group, under whose management sporty clothing for men, women and children, accessories (especially bags and luggage ) and shoes in the lower mid-price segment are offered under the name Chiemsee .

Company history

The beginnings in Grabenstätt

The brothers Christoph and Martin Imdahl ran a surf school and a surf accessories trade as a schoolboy at Chiemsee from 1977. After meeting the former Austrian professional surfer Mike Eskimo (Michael Ribolitz) in Hawaii in 1979 , in 1982, together with him and her friend, the then business administration student Jörg Kaller (* 1956), who ran a surf school in the Engadine , in Grabenstätt the brand Windsurfing Chiemsee . The company of the same name in the same year founded . Eskimo / Ribolitz became the label's chief designer . The parents of the Imdahl brothers ran the Hotel Chiemgauhof , in whose garage a surf shop was initially operated. Chiemsee made its first appearance in 1982 at the “ Boot ” water sports fair in Düsseldorf . Martin Imdahl sold his stake in 1992 to the later managing director Kaller, Christoph Imdahl left the company in 1999 and took over the family hotel. The Chiemsee company originally manufactured hardware such as surfboards . A clothing collection with T-shirts , shorts and a nylon jacket with a kangaroo pattern , which was enthusiastically received by the market, followed in 1984. In 1986 the first snowboard fashion collection was launched. In 1988, the company headquarters was inaugurated in a former girls' boarding school in Grabenstätt.

In 1984 the sport sponsorship of surf world cups and later snowboard world championships began under the motto “Chiemsee & Friends” . “Chiemsee & Friends” consisted of a group of athletes, so-called “team riders”, such as snowboarders Peter Bauer and Jean Nerva from 1986 or surfer Gerry Lopez from 1992, and artists who appeared in media-effective advertising campaigns for Chiemsee. In 1985 Chiemsee equipped the hi-fly team around Björn Schrader, Kai Schnellbacher and Ralf Bachschuster, for example during the Windsurf World Cup Sylt . The group of "Friends" or the "Chiemsee Family" temporarily consisted of around 100 well-known personalities in the sports scene. In 1993 Chiemsee was the main sponsor of the renowned Pipe Masters on the North Shore in Oahu , Hawaii, which was renamed Gerry Lopez CHIEMSEE Pipe Masters .

Years of success

The brand experienced its heyday in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Due to its popularity with customers, the company was able to afford high sales prices and a restrictive sales policy from retailers , who had to apply for supply contracts in writing with photos of their respective retail stores. Sales rose steadily. Full-page, glossy brochures were printed as collection catalogs that were less about the clothing itself than about a Chiemsee lifestyle. In 1994 the Chiemsee magazine respect was launched, which was renamed menu in 1996 and marketed as a kiosk magazine until 2000. Chiemsee enjoyed cult status in the surfing and snowboarding community on the beach and on the ski slopes and, derived from this, also among young end consumers.

Chiemsee's trademarks were and are the stylized back view of a water diver with outstretched arms, the so-called Acapulco Springer or Jumper , introduced in 1987 , as well as dotted kangaroos in bright colors from 1984 and - from 1994 for the second line Plusminus - the signs + (plus) and - (minus). Chiemsee competed with brands such as Oxbow, Mistral , O'Neill , Killer Loop, Sunshine, Burton and Fire & Ice ( Bogner ).

The portfolio included over the years the main collection Classic Line , the Sport Collection Activewear , the denim -collection Chiemsee Jeans , the bypass -collection for the Mountain Trek (1996 set), the more affordable second-line Plus Minus (from 1994), the highly fashionable Matador -Collection (out separately in 1996 by Martin Imdahl, still exist), the mini-series Nautic with parkas and vests made from recycled sails (integrated in 1996 into the main line), the functional Skimodenkollektion Defrost (from 1994), the streetwear -collection B -Street and the children's collection Chiemsee Kid's (from 1992). In 1996, a license collection for the ARD series Gegen den Wind was launched. In 1998, a separate women's collection was presented far away from sports fashion, but was discontinued in 2000. The collections were designed entirely in Bernau.

Licenses, production and sales

Men's swim shorts with kangaroo motif, early 1990s, " Made in Austria "

Numerous licenses have been awarded over the years : glasses (from 1997 CCS Royal, Chemnitz), fragrances and cosmetics (from 1999 Cosmopolitan, Cologne; from 2006 Mibelle AG, Zurich), silver jewelry (from 2000 BHL, Siesbach / Idar-Oberstein, from 2004 Lifestyle Group, Eching), shoes (from 1999 On Top Schuh, Seligenstadt; from 2004 self-directed), stationery (from 1999 Baier & Schneider, Heilbronn), socks (EMC Fashion Trading, Recklinghausen), underwear (from 2001 Götz, Albstadt-Margrethausen; from 2003 Gonso, Albstadt), belts / gloves (Bazlen, Metzingen), leather goods (from 2001 Müller & Meirer, Kirn), bed and bath textiles (from 2001 Teka, Blumenau), sports watches (from 2002 Lifestyle Group, Eching), children's clothing (from 2002 Püttmann, Paderborn; from 2004 self-directed). In 2001 about 30 million DM were achieved with licenses, in 2002 it was still 8 million €.

At the beginning of the 1990s, around 800,000 parts per year were produced in factories in Austria and Portugal . The production of the Bypass collection was relocated to Korea from the mid-1990s . From the beginning of the 2000s, there was a creative and product team for the two brands Chiemsee and Plusminus. The company maintains a "Chiemsee Far East office based in Hong Kong" and "production facilities [...] in Asia and Europe". Quality control and logistics management for Europe took place in Bernau until the beginning of the 2010s .

Chiemsee also operated its own shops , Chiemsee boutiques (shops-in-shops) integrated in larger shops and outlets , some of which were closed again: From 1995, there was a Chiemsee shop-in-shop in the Harrods department store in London . The British branch and a shop were located in Brighton on three floors. Further stores opened in the Netherlands and Italy, where there was also a subsidiary. There were outlets u. a. in Wertheim , Gundelfingen , Metzingen , Wustermark / Berlin. In 2004 a shop-in-shop was opened at Sportscheck in Munich. In 2005, a Chiemsee store was opened in St. Moritz with partners . In 2007, Chiemsee operated 50 shops-in-shops in Germany and two stores (at Chiemsee and St. Moritz), and in the following year licensed stores were opened in Asia ( Malaysia , Singapore , Thailand , Hong Kong ). In 2008 there were around 25 shops-in-shops in Germany. In 2009 the first own German shop was opened in Frankfurt am Main .

Trend reversal and sale

In 1996 the annual turnover was still 76 million DM, a year later 60 million DM. At the end of the 1990s, however, the company fell into the red. General sales losses in the textile industry also hit Chiemsee. The quality of the products fell, counterfeit products or imitators (as early as 1988 "Windsurfing Tegernsee", "Windsurfing Baggersee", "Chiemsee Sailing") damaged the company's image , increasing numbers of competitors let market power shrink, the young target group turned to other brands . With regard to the imitators, the European Court of Justice ruled in 1999 that Windsurfing Chiemsee is an established and protected brand, although geographical names (such as the Bavarian Chiemsee here) should be available to everyone. Windsurfing Chiemsee was the only company to associate the word Chiemsee as a brand with textiles, which was a bitter blow for competitors like "Chiemsee Sailing", which had generated sales of up to DM 30 million with the label. Chiemsee sat intensively against the predominantly from Turkey originated piracy to defend. For this purpose, the Association to Combat Product Piracy (VBP) was founded in Munich with other brand manufacturers . In the mid-1990s, Chiemsee took first place in the international ranking of counterfeit brands. Managing director Kaller was replaced in 1997 by Heiner Tennie, who bought 9.5% of the company. Kaller held 55% of the shares at the time. In 1998, Chiemsee presented its collections at ISPO for the first time , whereas in previous years they had only shown presence there, but no goods. The IPO was planned for the following year and therefore in 1998 a company share (36%) was sold to the stockbroker company Baader Wertpapier GmbH, Munich. In 1999 the annual turnover was 50 million DM. In 2000 the Chiemsee-Holding was converted into a stock corporation.

After Imdahl retired as a designer at the end of 1999, Clemens Deilmann became chief designer. Florian Steinberger became head of sales. In mid-2000, Tennie left the company, but kept his company shares. Kaller resigned in 2001 and kept some company shares (24%), the share held by Baader-Bank rose to 66%. In 2001, Chiemsee achieved annual sales of € 32 million and employed 50 people. In 2002 Deilmann was replaced by Christian Döhle. Also in 2002 - the 20th anniversary of Windsurfing Chiemsee - the prices have been reduced by approximately 30%, the demand boost. In the 2002 financial year, costs were reduced by 13% and a balanced result was achieved, sales increased by 2% compared to the previous year. In 2003 Chiemsee became part of the Norderstedter Schmidt Group (managing director: Jan Schmidt), to which u. a. the German license owned by the Italian sports brand Kappa . Schmidt bought Chiemsee from Baader Wertpapierhandelsbank AG in Munich (66% company share) and Jörg Kaller's family (almost 25%). As a result, the scope of the Chiemsee collection was reduced, the collections more clearly separated from each other and the prices lowered again. The brand, which could only be found in exclusive surf boutiques and high-priced fashion stores in the mid-1990s, has since been offered at Kaufhof and Karstadt . Also in 2003 a special edition of the Renault Clio was launched in cooperation with Chiemsee, the Chiemsee Clio . In 2005, the company moved into the new company headquarters in Bernau, which was built for around € 10 million. In the mid-2000s, Chiemsee lagged far behind brands like Quiksilver , which had annual sales of $ 1.3 billion. 2006 Chiemsee official partner was beach volleyball championship and announced in 2009 the equipment of the Toyota - Formula 1 teams, which, however, announced its withdrawal from Formula 1 the following year. In 2009 Chiemsee started an online shop . From 2011 to 2012, the company moved from the Bernau am Chiemsee location to the corporate headquarters in Norderstedt. Only the outlet store on Chiemsee remained.

The company is considered to be the founder of the fashion sport segment in the German clothing market. According to the company's own surveys, the aided awareness of the Chiemsee brand in Germany is 88%.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ condorshop.de: Chiemsee- History & (Self) portrait (last accessed: July 24, 2010)
  2. ↑ Free Magazin: 25 Years Chiemsee (September / October 2007; PDF; 18.3 MB) pages 20–21
  3. ↑ windsurfers.de: Conquering the world with kangaroos and jumpers (spring 2012)
  4. ↑ Logis GmbH: User report: Chiemsee  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (last accessed: July 24, 2010)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.logisgmbh.de  
  5. ↑ sport2.de: 25 years Chiemsee - The boardsport brand is celebrating its anniversary ( memento of the original from November 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (July 18, 2007) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sport2.de
  6. ↑ Chiemsee Nachrichten: The Grabenstätter lifestyle cult brand «Chiemsee» is fully on the board  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (June 10, 2004)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / verlag.inndependent.de  
  7. ↑ a b Textile Industry: Windsurfing Chiemsee, Grabenstätt: Surfing on new waves  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (October 7, 1993)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  8. ↑ matadorworld.com: Matador World retrieved: February 20, 2011
  9. ↑ Textile industry: Windsurfing Chiemsee: Bypass and B-Street disconnected  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (August 10, 1995)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  10. ↑ Textile Industry: Windsurfing Chiemsee: Concentration on the core business  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (December 19, 1996)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  11. ↑ Textilwirtschaft: Windsurfing Chiemsee - The fashion for the series  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (September 5, 1996)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  12. ↑ chiemsee.com: Value added chain - collection development (p. 19) ( Memento of the original of March 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (last accessed: July 25, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.chiemsee.com
  13. ↑ Textile industry: A myth that is strong in the market  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (December 19, 1996)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  14. ↑ fashionunited.de: Chiemsee opens first German store  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (February 24, 2009)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.fashionunited.de  
  15. ↑ radmarkt.de: Sports fashion maker Chiemsee opens first brand store (March 3, 2009)
  16. ↑ Textile industry: Chiemsee is picking up speed again  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (November 9, 2000)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  17. ↑ curia.europa.eu: Directive 89/104 / EEC - Trademarks - Geographical indications of origin (May 4, 1999)
  18. ^ Textile industry: Windsurfing Chiemsee: judgment wg. Name right  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (November 5, 1998)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  19. ^ Textile industry: Schmidt Group takes over Windsurfing Chiemsee (July 14, 2003)
  20. ↑ Textile industry: Chiemsee has rebranded  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (June 27, 2002)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de  
  21. ↑ motorsport-total.com: Chiemsee dresses Toyota from 2009 (July 19, 2008)
  22. ↑ chiemsee.com: Value-added chain - collection development (p. 20) ( Memento of the original from March 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (last accessed: July 25, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.chiemsee.com