The shoe manufacturing company from Lower Saxony, MARC Shoes, has a new owner.  The Berkemann company from Zeulenroda has acquired all the shares in MARC Shoes GmbH, based at Fischbeck.  The deal was sealed by the founder of MARC Shoes, Wilhelm Möhlmann, and the new owner, Thomas Bauerfeind, managing director of the firms Berkemann, Solidus and Vivo, which have specialised in comfort shoes, on 28 October.  Wilhelm Möhlmann, who is retiring, feels confident that his life’s work is in good hands.  “I am very happy to have found an extremely competent and trustworthy buyer.  The take-over will ensure that the Company is on the right track to achieve a secure and long-term future for all aspects of the business.  I am convinced that the authenticity and reliability of the MARC brand will be consolidated and enhanced.“ The 67-year old intends to keep in contact with the company in the future by assisting Thomas Bauerfeind, who will be joining the management of MARC Shoes on 1 November, as a consultant 

 

By taking over MARC Shoes, the Berkemann group is extending its market portfolio with an international brand serving the specialist trade alone with a history going back 70 years.  It concentrates on fashionable ladies and gentlemen’s footwear in the medium price range.  Thomas Bauerfeind, who only took over all the shares in the stout-shoe factory (Tuttlingen) in November, describes the addition of MARC Shoes as an important strategic and visionary move aimed to drive the successful development of his group of companies forward, “By taking over MARC Shoes we are giving the footwear market a clear signal that we are positioning the entire group of companies to bring it to the attention of the specialist footwear trade at a single stroke.  In addition to this, I am expecting the highly-developed fashion skills of MARC Shoes to rub off on     the other brands within the portfolio of businesses.“

 

MARC Shoes, Berkemann, Solidus and Vivo will continue to be managed within the Berekemann group as independent brands with their own strategies and stand-alone brand-image Synergies will be achieved by exchanging fashion and technical expertise.  The individual sales and field sales work will continue to be carried out separately by brand.  The company headquarters of MARCH Shoes at the Fischbeck site will also continue to be run with its existing management and current workforce of 85 employees for the longer term.

 

Background:

MARC Shoes was established in 1938 in Fischbeck in Lower Saxony. The owner-managed business has a lengthy track record spanning many years experience and craft-based expertise in manufacturing shoes for ladies and gentlemen.  Over the years craft-based shoe production developed into a modern business trading at an international level managed over this lengthy period of time by Wilhelm Möhlmann. Today MARC makes more than 1 million pairs of shoes a year and supplies specialist shoe shops all over the world. 

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