Progress men's clothing
| VEB progress men's clothing | |
|---|---|
| legal form | publicly-owned business |
| founding | May 15, 1945 |
| resolution | Beginning in 1991 |
| Reason for dissolution | Conversion into a GmbH with the name becon |
| Seat | Berlin - Lichtenberg , Germany |
| Number of employees | 3,000 (1967) |
| sales | ( Sales ): 90,000 suits in 1967 |
| Branch | Textile industry |
The VEB Progress Men's Clothing was the biggest manufacturer of men's clothing in the GDR , located in the Rudolf-Reusch-Straße in Berlin-Lichtenberg . It existed at this point from 1907 to 1990. The successor company was BECON Berliner Konfektion with a different location in the eastern part of Berlin.
timeline
In 1907, a textile company was built on the site between Rudolf-Reusch-Strasse, which was first laid out and designated in 1924, Normannenstrasse and Möllendorffstrasse 9. In 1915 the factory owners A. Plathen and A. Zelder are the owners of the building in Möllendorffstraße, to which the factory was at right angles. The names of the first factory owners and the name of the factory have not been passed down.
In the years that followed, the production range was expanded to include industrial outerwear exclusively for men, as well as extensive structural expansion with the façades typical of the time with glazed clinker bricks in white with green decorative elements. A six-storey block with a large inner courtyard and its own boiler house was built. Hundreds of people found work here.
After the end of World War II , clothing manufacturing became a major concern. For this reason, as early as May 1945, with the help of the Soviet occupying forces, the machines from the former clothing factory were made operational, rubble and ashes were removed from the factory buildings and, 14 days later, the production of simple jackets, coats and trousers was resumed with a small workforce.
Machines were gradually renewed, production rooms modernized and the latest technologies introduced. After the founding of the GDR in October 1949, the management of the nationalized company of the VVB Leichtindustrie Berlin ensured the improvement of the social environment for the workers: in 1951 an in-house kindergarten was opened, and later even a company outpatient clinic with several doctors and nurses, for which the Building a two-story prefabricated building. The training of textile skilled workers and the qualification of employees became a constant concern. Many engineers were also active in this clothing company. The Newer beings should provide continuous improvements in production.
In 1964 and 1967, a few small Berlin outerwear companies were affiliated with VEB Progress: first the VEB Elegan (which, among other things, had made all the clothing for the GDR Olympians in 1956, 1960 and 1964), and in 1967 the laundry factory became Flawless with VEB Progress united. At the end of the 1970s, the number of employees increased again through the integration of Vietnamese guest workers.
Now the production and the workforce had increased so much that an extension had to be made at the main site. For this purpose, the management had a five-story building erected directly on Möllendorffstrasse , in which the administration received its own rooms and thus better working conditions, while there was now more space for machines in the other buildings and parts of the company.
Some economic data
The following information can be made here:
- The quantity of goods produced rose to 300 percent between 1949 and 1960, and labor productivity in the same period to 260 percent.
- In 1967 about 3000 people were employed.
- Around 1967 the company was the largest producer of men's fashion in the GDR, for example around 25 percent of all coats were made here.
- The export took place in 1967 to nine countries on four continents.
Of progress is BECON
By renaming VEB Progress to becon GmbH - Berliner Confektion , some of the former bosses tried to keep the clothing business going after the fall of the Wall . The unqualified employees were laid off in the mid-1990s, initially affecting the Vietnamese women. As a large company for men's outerwear, however, there was no real chance of survival in the market economy; the range was no longer marketable. The West Berlin Max Schröder GmbH bought the property in order to produce its own clothing collections in the factory there. The almost new hanging transport system from the buildings of the former VEB Treffmodelle was specially installed. But Max Schröder Classicmoden , which had meanwhile been producing in Greifswalder Strasse , went bankrupt . The becon business location was relocated to Eldenaer Strasse in Berlin-Friedrichshain . This ensured survival, but with only a few workers. The large factory buildings served a few small service providers as inexpensive accommodation until the end of 2009.
BECON now has four branches in Berlin (as of spring 2019): a flagship store in Berlin-Mitte, Hausvogteiplatz 12, a shop at Kaiserdamm 38 in Charlottenburg, a branch at Landsberger Allee 131 (current collection & outlet ) and the above-mentioned location in Eldenaer Straße 35 at the former slaughterhouse. In Berlin, however, there is no longer any production, the management buys valuable fabrics in Italy and has them tailored abroad.
New establishment of the progress Berlin
A new company, Progress-Berlin, was founded in 2005 and entered in the commercial register in 2009. This company has nothing in common with the old VEB or with the previous location, it is located on Lottumstrasse in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg . The reference to the old name comes from the fact that one of the founders completed an apprenticeship as a seamstress at VEB Progress Men's Clothing in Berlin . Progress Berlin deals in focus with designing knitwear for men and women, and designs and sells under the brand name Plastetasche crocheted bags nylon yarn mainly in Japan, where in the spring of 2011, the first overseas branch of Progress-Berlin / Plastetasche emerged.
Conversion of the historic Lichtenberg factory building into loft apartments
The listed buildings and former plate at the Möllendorffstraße were from April 2010 to apartments and lofts rebuilt, boiler house and a production building at the Rudolf-Reusch Street were demolished. In the 2010s, the company Lichtenberger Loft GmbH & Co. KG , which belongs to the CG Group based in Leipzig, carried out the necessary renovation and demolition measures on the site. With an investment volume of around 50 million euros, 96 loft-style residential units were built on the former production area. The facades of the production buildings were restored in accordance with the listed building standards. In a second construction phase, which was completed by the end of 2012, an additional 11,500 m² of living space in 138 apartments was created on the site. The former canteen and the former polyclinic along Rudolf-Reusch-Straße had to make way for two block perimeter buildings and five separate houses.
literature
- G. Flügge: "Progress" , In: Berliner ABC , continuation stories in the Berliner Zeitung, 1967 (day and month not known)
Web links
- Website of the successor company BECON Berliner Confektion GmbH
- Website of the start-up progress Berlin
Individual evidence
- ↑ Möllendorffstr. In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1915, V, p. 126.
- ↑ In the Berlin address book under Rudolf-Reusch-Straße there were only construction sites until the early 1930s . In 1935, the factory owner M. Fluche found himself the owner of the parcel at Rudolf-Reusch-Straße 18 and Normannenstraße 37 . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1935, IV, p. 2104.
- ↑ Kristin Hermann: Sometimes she wants the GDR back . Interview with the Vietnamese Thu Fandrich. In: Berliner Zeitung , September 27, p. 10.
- ↑ BECON website with names of the branches ; accessed on April 11, 2019.
- ^ Homepage Progress Berlin
- ^ Website of the Japan branch of Progress-Berlin / Plastetasche
- ^ Website of the CG group: Lofts in Carré Parkaue .
- ↑ Construction site sign on Rudolf-Reusch-Straße from January 2012 as well as expansion work that has already been carried out.
Coordinates: 52 ° 31 ′ 1 ″ N , 13 ° 28 ′ 53 ″ E