Kunert fashion
| Kunert Fashion GmbH
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1924 |
| Seat | Immenstadt in the Allgäu |
| management | Erich Sauter, Justina Rokita |
| Number of employees | 750 |
| Branch | Textile and clothing industry |
| Website | www.kunert.de |
The Kunert Fashion GmbH is a German manufacturer of legwear with the brands Kunert Kunert Men and Hudson . The company is based in Immenstadt im Allgäu .
Kunert company until 1945
In 1924 Julius Kunert sen. in Varnsdorf in Czechoslovakia a knitting factory with the name knitwear factory Julius Kunert & Söhne OHG . With a daily production of 100,000 items, 85% of which were exported, and a workforce of around 5,000, the company took the lead among European hosiery manufacturers in 1938. The expulsion of the Germans from Czechoslovakia since May 1945 by the resurrected Czechoslovak Republic forced the Kunert family to leave for Saxony and then to move to Bavaria . The company in Warnsdorf, expropriated from the Kunert family, continued to exist under Czech management and produced stockings under the name "Elite".
Kunert after 1945 up to Kunert AG
The company's first production facility was a rented hall of the mechanical cotton spinning and weaving mill in Blaichach in March 1946 with 24 Warnsdorf employees on loaned machines . The company headquarters remained in Augsburg for the time being . To expand production, a move to Immenstadt to the closed plant of the Berlin Physikalische Werkstätten on (then) Lindauer Strasse was considered. The Immenstadt city council approves this project. After the founding of Kunert Strumpf- und Trikotagenfabrik GmbH, Immenstadt on June 1, 1946, the assets of the Berliner Physikalische Werkstätten , including the buildings and properties on Lindauer Strasse, were acquired on August 21, 1946 through a contribution agreement with the heirs of the company's founder, Scharf the Kunert company.
Around 120 former employees from Warnsdorf were working in production in April 1947. Production was continuously expanded, and in 1950 the company employed 600 people. In the beginning Kunert produced women's and men's underwear and synthetic silk fabric by the meter. Later on, women's and men's socks ( Kunert stockings ) were added.
Expansion of the Kunert company
inland
Due to the high demand, branch plants were set up in Immenstadt ( Kunert Plant 2 ), in Fischen (1960–1966), Oberstaufen (1960–1969), Kempten (1963–1976 / 81) and Mindelheim (1969/70). In 1969 Kunert built a plant in Berlin with 680 circular knitting machines and a daily production of 80,000 tights. Yarn processing was concentrated in the Berlin plant and the nylon yarn chinchillan , which was developed by Kunert, was sent to the German Kunert factories.
foreign countries
The company has now increasingly relocated production abroad:
- 1979 to Tunisia
- 1982 to Morocco
- 1989 to Portugal
- After the political upheaval in 1989 as a result of the so-called Velvet Revolution , a plant was put back into operation in the Czech Republic .
Acquisition of further textile companies
In 1978 the Hudson Group , which was in financial difficulties, was taken over. This had four domestic plants and one production facility each in Greece and Italy . With this acquisition, Kunert came back to the top of the producers of leg and footwear in Europe.
On July 1, 1989, Kunert (now Kunert AG, Immenstadt ) took over the loss-making Arlington Group (and with this purchase the license for Burlington ). Production facilities in Austria , Hungary and the Netherlands were added.
Kunert has been pursuing a multi-brand strategy in the legwear sector ( Kunert , Hudson , Silkona ) and women's and men's outerwear ( Burlington and others) since 1986 .
Foundation of Kunert AG, Immenstadt
Entrepreneurial reasons prompted the company management to convert the family business into a joint stock company, Kunert AG , on January 1st, 1988 . The share capital at that time was 20 million DM and was increased to 28 million DM in 1989.
Kunert AG today
Consolidated financial statements and annual group report 2008
At the end of 2008, the Kunert AG (or Kunert Group ) owned the brands Burlington , Hudson and Kunert . Kunert produces the
brands Kunert (premium brand), Julius Kunert (men's line) and Hudson (family brand) as well as hosiery for other own brands ( private label ) directly.
The production sites were in Germany , Great Britain , France , Austria , the Netherlands , Switzerland , Hungary , the Czech Republic , Morocco and China .
The only remaining brand represented as a licensee was Burlington ; Kunert AG had parted with the Mexx , Calvin Klein and bruno banani brands at the end of 2006.
The gross revenues at the end of 2008 (the 2007 figures in brackets) were EUR 74.4 million (EUR 87.6 million), a decrease of approx. 15% compared to 2007, the number of employees was 1040 people (1221 people), of which 321 (346) in Germany.
Opening of insolvency proceedings in 2013 and takeover by Grossnigg
On May 1, 2013, the insolvency proceedings were opened against Kunert AG. Arndt Geiwitz was appointed as insolvency administrator .
In the course of a so-called transferring restructuring, grosso Holding of the Austrian Erhard Grossnigg took over the majority of the newly founded Kunert Fashion GmbH in September 2013 . Instead of the previous Kunert GmbH & Co. KG, to which the (unnamed) purchase price flows, this company will in future run the operative business. The old umbrella company Kunert AG continues to exist, but becomes an empty corporate shell. The financial investor Kingsbridge Capital , which was last majority shareholder of Kunert AG through the investment vehicle Julius Textile Investment, holds a significant minority stake (over 25%) in the new Kunert GmbH, but the management rests with Grossnigg. The Kunert production facilities in Immenstadt and Morocco will be retained, as will the Kunert, Julius Kunert and Hudson brands. Of the total of around 1,000 jobs, 110 are to be cut for the time being.
literature
- Rudolf Vogel (ed.), Immenstadt im Allgäu. Landscape, history, society, economy, cultural and religious life over the centuries , Immenstadt im Allgäu 1996
- Biographical lexicon on the history of the Bohemian countries, edited on behalf of the Collegium Carolinum (Institute) by Heribert Sturm , Volume II, 1984, Julius Kunert, stocking manufacturer, pages 346 and 347, ISBN 3 486 52551 4
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Consolidated financial statements and group management reports 2008 (PDF file; 4.26 MB) ( page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ↑ Ad hoc announcement according to § 15 WpHG ( page no longer available , search in web archives ), accessed on May 7, 2013
Coordinates: 47 ° 33 '44.7 " N , 10 ° 12' 5.7" E