Etienne Aigner AG

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Etienne Aigner AG

logo
legal form Corporation
founding 1965
Seat Munich , Germany
management Sibylle Schön (CEO)
Branch Luxury goods
Website aignermunich.de

The Etienne Aigner AG , headquartered in Munich, is a German manufacturer of exclusive leather goods such as handbags , luggage, belts , wallets and leather accessories for men and women. Under license, high-priced clothing for women and men, shoes, watches , jewelry , glasses and perfume are also offered under the Aigner name .

The company was founded in 1965 as Etienne Aigner GmbH founded in Munich after by a German businessman a licensing agreement for the global market - except USA and Canada - with the then in New York City resident, Hungarian - American fashion - and accessories designer Etienne Aigner had been hit. In the USA, Etienne Aigner, Inc. , based in New York, has existed independently since 1950 and holds the license rights to the Aigner name for the North American market.

history

Etienne Aigner

In the 1930s, the Hungarian bookbinder Etienne Aigner (* 1904; † 2000) discovered his love for leather and then designed bag collections for several haute couture houses in Paris . After he became known with it in France , he designed a. a. for Christian Dior and Hermès leather bags and belts. In 1950, Etienne Aigner, Inc. was founded in New York City , and from the following years Aigner presented collections under his own name. The monogram , implemented in the form of a horseshoe , originated from the first letter of the name Aigner. In 1959 the first Etienne Aigner showroom was opened in Manhattan . Right from the start, Aigner saw nouveau riche society and the American jet set as his customers.

European branch

In 1965 Etienne Aigner sold the name "Aigner" including the logo and all rights for the global market - with the exception of North America - under license to the Munich sales representative Heiner Rankl (1921–1995) from Landsberg am Lech , who owned Etienne Aigner GmbH & Co. Leathergoods KG in Munich. Rankl discovered the brand in Canada in 1962 and began importing Etienne Aigner goods in the 1960s , but after acquiring the license, he modified the products for the European market in coordination with Etienne Aigner. The trademark rights for Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia have since been held by Etienne Aigner AG from Munich, while the trademark rights for the American continent are held by Etienne Aigner, Inc. from New York. Etienne Aigner himself had sold Etienne Aigner, Inc. to US investors (Jonathan Logan) in 1967 . The two brands differ in their positioning, design and price structure. The American division was bought by Australian investors in 2011, which also increased the price and design of the Etienne Aigner, Inc. product range .

In 1972, on the initiative of the German Aigner division, Etienne Aigner Italy Srl , based in Milan , was founded, which is responsible for leather production, and the product range was expanded to include luggage and shoes. In 1973 the brand was internationalized and a franchise system with shops was introduced. In 1974 fashion accessories such as scarves and ties were introduced. In the same year the company founded the Etienne Aigner Renntag ("The Royal Ascot in Munich"), an annual sporting event with a charitable character. Guests were u. a. Uschi Glas , Pierre Brice and Gina Lollobrigida as well as the racing driver Clay Regazzoni , who was sponsored by Aigner. In 1975 an annual turnover of 40 million DM was achieved. 1975 began with the fragrance “Etienne Aigner No. 1 “the entry into the cosmetics market. In 1978 Aigner presented the first fashion collection "for sporty elegance for women and men". In 1979 the company was converted into a public limited company. In 1980 sales of 103 million DM were achieved, in 1984 it was 183 million DM. In 1982 Aigner started with watches and fashion jewelry.

Aigner as a stock corporation

In 1981 and 1983, the Düsseldorf entrepreneur brothers Wolfgang and Reinhard Rauball bought the majority of shares of over 60% in the company from the founder Rankl. Aigner went public in Germany in 1983 with a share price of DM 245 and placed 45% of the shares on the market. In the mid-1980s, however, Aigner made heavy losses (13 million marks in 1985) due to logistics and IT problems, rising production costs and problems with the cosmetics business, and the group's management board briefly considered selling the company to Kaufhof .

In 1987 a license was granted for glasses. In 1988 the license for perfume and cosmetics was sold to the American Fabergé group ( Elizabeth Arden ). Today the license lies with the Spanish perfume manufacturer Puig. Women's fashion and men's clothing were licensed in 1990. The license for women's fashion was held by the Italian Sabatini SpA from Pecoli near Pisa until 2012 (after it had previously been awarded to Gerry Weber and briefly to the now insolvent Mariella Burani Group), the license for men's clothing was held by Dressler / bugatti from 1993 onwards . The perfume “Etienne Aigner No. 1 “ Eau de Cologne for men. Since then, numerous Aigner fragrances for women and men have been released. In 1990 there was a "Etienne Aigner" special edition of the Volkswagen Golf .

Changing years

In 1989, through share purchases, including the shares of the Rauball brothers, a total of 85% of the shares in Etienne Aigner AG came into the possession of Evi Brandl, chairwoman of the Vinzenzmurr butcher chain . However, this only became known in the early 1990s, as Brandl had acted through an investment company ( VVB Vermögenstreuhand GmbH ). Aigner introduced a new corporate identity in 1994 and from the end of the 1990s undertook a massive makeover of its own products in order to change the target group from a wealthy, older lady to a successful, young woman. After initial successes, Aigner's sales, which at the time were the equivalent of 70 million euros, declined in the mid-1990s and in 1998 the company slipped into the red, also in the wake of the Asian crisis. At the end of 2004, Brandl achieved the necessary majority of shares (almost 95%) to take Aigner off the stock exchange through a compensation offer to the other shareholders. The shares were delisted in December 2004.

In 2000, 36 new Aigner stores worldwide were added to the franchise network. In Tokyo , an Aigner store opened its doors in the Ginza . From 2000 to 2008, the German fashion and accessory designer and later professor for fashion design Johann Stockhammer was creative director at Aigner. In 2001, Aigner granted pe.timedesign from Pforzheim the watch license , which is still valid today. Sales in 2001 amounted to 72.2 million euros, with an annual surplus of 1.3 million euros. At that time there were around 130 Aigner stores and 600 Aigner outlets worldwide . In 2002 a flagship store was opened in Munich. The Etienne Aigner AG workforce comprised around 140 employees in Germany and Italy. In 2002, the 2003 season made its debut at Milan Fashion Week under Stockhammer's creative direction (there is still a women's fashion show there today) and Terminal 2 at Munich Airport got a new Aigner shop. The annual turnover in 2003 was 56 million euros with a loss of 6.1 million euros. In 2004 the Italian Sabatini S. p. A. new license partner for women's fashion, Nigura Düsseldorf for glasses and pe.timedesign for jewelry and writing implements. Due to a massive drop in demand and losses in the early 2000s, Aigner's logistics chain had to be outsourced, a warehouse near Munich had to be abandoned and a third of the workforce had to be laid off. The annual turnover in 2004 was 54 million euros, with a loss of 1.9 million euros. In 2005 there were a total of 28 Aigner stores in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, eight of which belonged to the company itself. In 2006 there was a positive result of 1.7 million euros, and in 2009, after further setbacks, the group returned to profitability with a consolidated profit of 86,000 euros. In 2006 a real jewelry collection in sterling silver followed . Creative director Stockhammer was followed in 2008 by the German-Romanian fashion designer Udo Edling. Edling was replaced in 2010 by Christian Beck, who had worked as a designer for Aigner since 2008 and was previously employed by EganaGoldpfeil .

In the 2000s, the Munich-based company had repeatedly tried in vain to acquire the North American license in order to be able to open up the market there and prevent cannibalization of its own brand by the goods of the US licensees. Only for the island state of Hawaii could the rights be bought by Etienne Aigner, Inc. in the early 2000s, albeit not very lucratively.

Aigner today

From the end of the 2000s, Aigner also opened up the upper mid-price segment with leather goods, while previously they had exclusively focused on the upper price range. The production of leather goods, for example the 80,000 bags sold annually, still takes place mainly in Italy, but to a certain extent also in Spain, the Czech Republic and Turkey. Non-leather products other than clothing are made in Asia. The Etienne Aigner (Italy) Srl has its headquarters now in Bolzano . The stylistic alignment of the licensed products is carried out by the licensees and no longer by Etienne Aigner AG with its 135 employees (as of 2010). The annual brand turnover in 2010 was 64 million euros, with an annual profit of 600,000 euros. The company's own turnover in the 2012 financial year was just under 34 million euros, of which a little less than half was generated on the German market. Licenses generated an additional 21.3 million euros. The annual surplus was 3 million euros.

In 2012, the Aigner license for women's fashion was awarded to the Passau company Trixi Schober. In 2013, Dressler's men's fashion license was terminated and given to Van Laack from Mönchengladbach and Koenig Leatherwear from Wiesbaden . In 2014, children's fashion (license to Püttmann, Paderborn ) and shoes (Shoe Mission International, Tutzing ) were added to the range.

In 2010 there were eleven Aigner stores and six Aigner outlets in Germany. There were also five franchise stores. In 2007 there were around 140 Aigner shops worldwide, in 2011 there were around 90. The brand is represented with around 450 other sales outlets in almost 50 countries around the world, with 50% of sales being generated in German-speaking countries. In 2011 an online shop was launched on its own website.

Image and design

Etienne Aigner AG describes itself as a German brand with an Italian soul. German precision is to be combined with Tuscan tradition, the house has its goods mainly produced in Italy . The design for the leather goods and fashion accessories is created in Munich, the design for the women's fashion in Florence . Aigner products are known for their strong colors. This is how the “Antic Red” became a trademark of the brand . With this "signal color", Aigner wants to pay homage to the Tuscan red wine Chianti Classico.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ aignermunich.de: Imprint
  2. ↑ crash in the luxury store , zeit.de, June 21, 1985
  3. ↑ A am Halfter , spiegel.de, March 3, 1975
  4. ↑ crash in the luxury store , zeit.de, June 21, 1985
  5. ^ Chaos in the House , spiegel.de, June 30, 1986
  6. ^ Controversy over Aigner-Parfüm , spiegel.de, November 17, 1986
  7. ^ Deficiencies in hygiene at Vinzenzmurr: Old sausage and old money , spiegel.de, October 18, 2012
  8. ↑ Successful turnaround , focus.de, June 29, 2000
  9. ↑ Darling, I'm getting younger ...! , welt.de, August 21, 2005
  10. ↑ Aus der Schneider , focus.de, April 27, 2005
  11. ↑ Aigner made the leap into profitability , welt.de, March 13, 2001
  12. ↑ Defying the doldrums - Etienne Aigner AG , ihk.de, August 2002
  13. ↑ TM - August 2012 - Human Conditions , allesplastik.de, August 2012
  14. ↑ Aigner: More sales, more profit ( Memento of the original from August 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , textilwirtschaft.de, May 25, 2012  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.textilwirtschaft.de
  15. ↑ Etienne Aigner goes with the fashion ( Memento of the original from January 13, 2014 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. (PDF; 126 kB), trixischober.de, June 21, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.trixischober.de
  16. ↑ Aigner issues new licenses ( memento of the original from August 6, 2014 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. , textilwirtschaft.de, July 9, 2013  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.textilwirtschaft.de