Gustav Hoffmann (entrepreneur)
Gustav Hoffmann (born May 10, 1872 in Kleve ; † February 2, 1935 there ) was a German industrialist and founder of the elephant shoe factory.
Life
Gustav Hoffmann grew up as the eldest of seven children of Gocher (later Klever) businessman Johann Heinrich Hoffmann in Kleve. The father's shop on Grosse Strasse in Kleve dealt in leather and other shoemaker's supplies, as well as bicycles and sewing machines. After graduating from high school at the age of one , he started as an apprentice in a Brackweder leather factory. After a year of military service in the Klever garrison, he returned to work in his father's business. At the age of 24, Hoffmann went into business for himself together with his brother-in-law, Fritz Pannier from Berlin. Both of them received the start-up capital to buy the bankruptcy assets of a shoe factory from Hoffmann's father. The children's shoe factory founded in this way was unique at the time.
Gustav Hoffmann was the first industrial manufacturer to produce anatomically shaped right and left children's shoes in 1896, which were marketed under the Elefanten-Schuh brand .
He profited considerably from the production of war boots during the First World War.
See also
- Wummy children's magazine from Elephant Shoe.
literature
- Heinz Todtmann : Big work for little feet . Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of Gustav Hoffmann GmbH Kleve 1958, 112 pages illustrated
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hoffmann, Gustav |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German children's shoe manufacturer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 10, 1872 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kleve |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 2, 1935 |
| Place of death | Kleve |