Mustang (jeans)

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MUSTANG GmbH

logo
legal form GmbH
founding May 2, 1932
Seat Schwaebisch Hall , Germany
management Andreas Baur
Number of employees 599
sales EUR 102.70 million
Branch Fashion industry
Website www.mustang-jeans.com
As of December 31, 2017

Mustang is a jeans and lifestyle brand. The Mustang Group with nine locations in Europe, Russia and China is headquartered in Schwäbisch Hall .

history

Foundation and post-war period

The Mustang textile company was founded by Luise Hermann on May 2nd, 1932 as L. Hermann clothes factory in Künzelsau as a reaction to the stagnating timber trade of her husband Heinrich Hermann. In addition to the owner, six seamstresses were employed. The company manufactured work clothing and equipped the Wehrmacht and Reich Labor Service with drill suits .

The company's founder's son, Rolf Hermann (1926–2008), and her son-in-law Albert Sefranek (1920–2014) joined the family business in 1945. In 1948, Albert Sefranek exchanged six bottles of schnapps for six jeans with US soldiers in a Frankfurt bar. These jeans were used as a pattern for the company's first jeans. In 1948 the first order for 300 blue so-called "Amihosen" - jeans  - was accepted. This made the company the first supplier of jeans in Europe . The patterns for the skinny pants were "adopted" from US jeans that Sefranek had obtained from GIs stationed in Germany . Series production began a year later, initially from twill for workwear and later from real imported US denim . The early years were difficult times: In post-war Germany, jeans were initially considered vulgar due to their tight cut , were initially associated with the victorious powers and later with the left spectrum . In 1953 Mustang manufactured the first jeans for women, which were offered as Girl's camping pants , in 1955 a pair of corduroy jeans completed the range.

American way of life

The Mustang Jeans brand was introduced and protected by Sefranek in 1958 , inspired by the American way of life , which was becoming popular at the time . As a company logo, he chose stylized horses based on the Mustang . Before that, jeans were known as “cowboy pants”. A high-priced Mustang jeans cost around 20 Marks (48 euros based on today's purchasing power). In 1961, the company launched the world's first stretch jeans under the Mustang brand . In the mid-1960s, Kaufhof ordered the first models, which meant that Mustang entered the nationwide retail market. In the mid-1960s, Mustang was about to take over sole distribution of Levi's jeans in Germany, until the Americans withdrew and later founded their own subsidiary. In 1971, the entire production of work clothing was switched to jeans fashion. In 1972, Mustang designed the west German team's casual clothing for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich . 1973 was L. Hermann KG in Mustang clothing Werke GmbH + Co. renamed. Jackets and tops were added to the jeans collection at the end of the 1970s. From 1981 the company expanded with subsidiaries in other European countries, such as France and Portugal .

License business and scene marketing

In 1989 Mustang received the license for JOOP! Jeans that were only launched in 2003 with the JOOP! expired. From 1993 to 1999 there was a license agreement with the Belgian designer Walter Van Beirendonck for the production and distribution of his extravagant streetwear brand W< - Wild And Lethal Trash , for which own shops were operated worldwide. Mustang then continued to run W< independently and discontinued it in the spring of 2003 to concentrate on the core brand. In the mid-1990s, Mustang started the JAM - Jeans and Music Project together with the music broadcaster VIVA as part of a scene marketing concept , which includes a weekly TV show, a magazine , the Mustang Roadshow with live concerts, the CD sampler Jamtrax and sponsorship of major events such as Rock am Ring and gave the Mustang brand a notable image boost. In addition, there was a sponsorship agreement with the rock band Scorpions and activities at the Cologne music fair Popkomm . Since 1999, external companies have been licensed to sell shoes (from the end of 2005), belts, bags (from 2002), underwear (from 2005), stockings, fragrances (from 2006) and watches (from the end of 2005) under the Mustang brand. Mustang has also been cooperating with Willy Bogner since 2000 and manufactured products such as 6-pocket jeans and skier jeans for the Bogner Jeans brand, which was launched in 2001 . In 2005, a license agreement was signed with Wolfgang Joops, the Wunderkind brand, launched in 1999, for the production of jeans, which was abandoned in 2006.

Jeans market crisis

In 1997, the production of jeans required 29,900 meters of denim for 23,000 jeans a day. 2,000 employees work in the company and its subsidiaries in 24 countries. The Hermann family withdrew from the company in 1990 and handed over their shares to Albert Sefranek. On his 75th birthday, Sefranek left the company management in 1995 and passed the business on to his son, Heiner Sefranek (* 1948), who has been with the company since 1974. At the end of the 1990s the jeans market was in crisis, demand fell and manufacturers' price wars intensified . Mustang closed the production facility at its headquarters in Künzelsau, where 15% of the total volume was still being produced, and cut staff. Extensive restructuring measures continued until the early 2000s. The production facility in Portugal was closed in 2002.

Verticalization

The late 2000s were also difficult times for Mustang after a trend reversal occurred in 2004. At the end of 2005, the decision was made to give up in-house production and thus the plants in Poland and Russia. In 2007 the company closed its last own plant in Marcali, Hungary . The verticalization of the company was completed. In 2006 a loss of 6.2 million euros was posted. The turnover was 96 million euros, ten years earlier this was more than twice as high. The workforce in Germany was reduced to a third. The textiles are now made to order , mainly in China and other countries in the Far East. A design, cutting and washing department remained at the company's headquarters.

Mustang today

In 2008, Heiner Sefranek appointed Theo Birkemeyer (* 1962), who had worked in the company's marketing since 2006 and had already worked for Mustang at the end of the 1980s, as his successor as CEO . In 2008 Mustang operated 190 of its own stores worldwide, in which only its own products are sold. The first Mustang store in Germany was opened in Düsseldorf in 1999, and the 50th German Mustang store was inaugurated in Hamburg in spring 2010. At the end of 2009, Mustang opened a retail branch in Frankfurt am Main and opened a flagship store in the city center. The Mustang online shop went online in autumn 2009 . The company closed the 2009 financial year with a positive result.

There are subsidiaries in Moscow and Hong Kong . In 2010 the retail business, Mustang Store , and the wholesale business, Mustang Jeans , were separated as a holding company in Mustang GmbH . Albert Sefranek, who still attended representative appointments for Mustang, turned 90 on May 18, 2010. In June 2011 Heiner Sefranek took over the management again.

At the beginning of October 2011 it was announced that the Sefranek family is handing over their majority in the company, which has been family-owned for almost 80 years since it was founded; The main owner is now an investor group consisting of 14 shareholders around the holding company ACapital Beteiligungsberatung GmbH from Frankfurt am Main . The Sefranek family only retained 10 percent of the company shares when they took over. Albert Sefranek, who was called Mister Jeans in the German textile industry , died on March 2, 2014.

In 2020 the headquarters were relocated from Künzelsau to the Schwäbisch Hall district of Hessental .

Mustang Museum

In 2007, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary, the company opened its own museum at Austraße 10 in Künzelsau , in the former home of the founder Luise Hermann.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Consolidated financial statements of MUSTANG GmbH as of December 31, 2018 in the electronic Federal Gazette
  2. ↑ Florian Langenscheidt , Bernd Venohr (Hrsg.): Lexicon of German world market leaders. The premier class of German companies in words and pictures . German Standards Editions, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86936-221-2 .
  3. ↑ Alfons Kaiser: When the Amihosen learned to walk . In: faz.net , August 29, 2008
  4. ↑ Der Spiegel, Register, Died: Albert Sefranek . Der Spiegel 11/2014, p. 147.
  5. ↑ Trademark register Mustang word mark
  6. ↑ Mustang trademark register - figurative mark
  7. ↑ Susanne Krah: The jeans success story: From work trousers to cult objects . [ = 402330 http://www.textilwirtschaft.de/suche/show.php?ids [] = 402330] ( Memento from November 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Textilwirtschaft, October 10, 1996
  8. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Elke Dieterich: Beirendonck is creative director for Scapa Sports . Textile Industry , October 26, 2006@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.textilwirtschaft.de
  9. ^ Textile industry: First W. & L.T. shop opened in Germany (September 15, 1998)
  10. ↑ textile industry: [ = 174302 Mustang represents the line W. & L.T. a] ( Memento from March 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (December 12, 2002)
  11. ↑ Marketing : Winning the Young - Entry into Scene Marketing? ( Memento of September 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (December 10, 1994)
  12. ↑ Textile industry: Mustang closes production at headquarters [ = 422265 http://www.textilwirtschaft.de/suche/show.php?ids [] = 422265] ( Memento from February 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (November 12, 1998 )
  13. ↑ Textile industry: Mustang sells plant in Portugal [ = 167886 http://www.textilwirtschaft.de/suche/show.php?ids [] = 167886] ( Memento from February 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (January 1, 2002)
  14. ↑ Textile industry: Textile manufacturer Mustang creates the turnaround [ = 458875 http://www.textilwirtschaft.de/suche/show.php?ids [] = 458875] ( Memento from January 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (October 27, 2005)
  15. ↑ The Mustang is re-bridged . In: Hohenloher Zeitung . April 1, 2008 ( from Stimme.de [accessed June 18, 2010]).
  16. ↑ Textile Industry: Mustang: New Positions for International Expansion (August 7, 2008)
  17. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt: Pants from the Torture Chamber (May 27, 2006)
  18. ↑ Mustang closes his last own work . manager-magazin.de, January 12, 2007 (accessed October 29, 2008)
  19. ↑ Manfred Stockburger: Mustang tailors new structure . In: Hohenloher Zeitung . December 29, 2009 ( from Stimme.de [accessed June 18, 2010]).
  20. ↑ mfd: Heiner Sefranek is again Mustang boss . In: Hohenloher Zeitung . June 11, 2011 ( from Stimme.de [accessed June 18, 2010]).
  21. ↑ Mustang: Founding family sold to investor group textilwirtschaft.de, October 4, 2011
  22. ↑ Financial investor joins Mustang handelsblatt.com, October 4, 2011
  23. ↑ http://www.stimme.de/hohenlohe/wirtschaft/Ende-einer-AEra-Mustang-wird-verkauf;art17654,2256449
  24. ↑ Der Spiegel, Register, Died: Albert Sefranek . Der Spiegel 11/2014, p. 147.
  25. ↑ Jeans manufacturer Mustang saddles to Hall on swp.de.