COMPANY PROFILE
In the 1980's new production facilities, offices and warehouses were built in Hauenstein, Hungary and Romania, allowing the company to grow even faster. In 2005 Josef Seibel took Romika Shoes from insolvency to a flourishing company within the Josef Seibel Group. Introduced in the UK in 1996, Josef Seibel has built their reputation for premium comfort footwear by focusing on superior production techniques to develop shoes and boots that are a pleasure to wear. Style development in line with fashion trends means that Josef Seibel’s customers can choose their comfort shoes based on fashion appeal and be assured of great fit and wear quality. Today, Josef Seibel is one of the fastest growing European footwear companies and is still a family run business under the direction of Carl-August Seibel, 4th generation great grandson of original founder Carl-August Seibel.
T
Editor, Cheryl Taylor, talks to Martin Ingram, Managing Director of Josef Seibel
Which are your best selling lines and why? For the current spring season clogs have been a huge success, heritage for Josef Seibel that has now returned to the fashion arena. We just do it comfortably! Smarter product has also proved successful alongside our all day/every day comfort shoes.
Where do your source your materials? We aim to source our quality leathers from Italy. Such is the quality of this material, we ship it around the world to various production sites; however the majority of production for the UK and Irish markets is from factories based in Europe owned by the Josef Seibel Group. The Josef Seibel Group follows a code of conduct to ensure that their products are manufactured and sourced responsibly. The introduction of the “Spirit of Nature” range also offers the consumer the opportunity to choose footwear with a greater consideration for the environment.
Where are you based? The UK and Irish office is based in Norwich, Norfolk supporting more than 730 valued outlets for the brand across the territory. The parent company, Josef Seibel GmbH, now trades in more than 40 countries across the world with its headquarters based in the village of Hauenstein, Germany.
Do you have a brand philosophy? Today the company is run on the same basic principles set out by the founding members with fourth generation Carl-August Seibel at the helm. These principles include the provision of premium quality in materials, the best, workmanship, perfect fit and comfort. With these main principles, Josef Seibel shoes became known as the European Comfort Shoe. These quality demands are in addition to a modern, convincing marketing concept, a flexible organisation and motivated employees as well as owned production facilities in Germany and Eastern Europe.
How many people do you employ? Do you have a high turnover of staff, or longer-term employees? Josef Seibel UK works with six agents across the territory and now employs thirty people an increase from four agents and five employees in the past years. Today 3500 people are working under the management of Carl-August Seibel and Andreas Garnier for the Josef Seibel Group worldwide.
How do you market your lines? We are proud to work with key quality multiples, department stores and independents across the UK and Ireland and engage strongly with these to promote our products at store level and within relevant local media. In the current year we have maintained our interest in consumer marketing through relevant publications such as Prima, Good Housekeeping, Sainsbury Magazine and Country Living. We continue to increase our visibility on the internet as a communication tool and are embracing the social media networks, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr, the communication tools of future generations.
Any famous customers (now or in the past)? Chris Evans and Julia Roberts have both purchased and been seen in Josef Seibel products!
And, the next step? Any plans for the future, new lines, etc? The Josef Seibel Group is now producing more than 5 million pairs of shoes a year. We will concentrate on providing stylish, innovative and comfortable product to existing and new consumers to grow our business. We will continue to work actively and strongly with our valued wholesale distribution for mutually successful business together. Both our website and consumer marketing will aim to drive new and existing consumers to Josef Seibel stockists. We are also celebrating the first anniversary of our flagship store in Covent Garden, which opened in May 2009. The Josef Seibel store, which showcases the groups brands Josef Seibel, Romika and Spirit of Nature (the eco-range), has performed well this season and is instrumental in raising our profile to consumers and consumer media. As a result, we will be looking both to open an increasing number of stores in partnership with our current stockists and our own stores in key locations to raise the profile of Josef Seibel Group brands across the UK.
Contact Details Tel: 01603 307860 Web:
www.josefseibel.co.uk
ell us about your company history and your brand/products ? In 1886 one of the first shoe factories in Hauenstein, Germany was founded by Carl-August Seibel. At that time he produced shoes and sandals in his own house.
32 • FOOTWEAR TODAY
• SEPTEMBER 2010
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