2024-07-08 09:29:52
These are not easy times for German fashion chains: several well-known brands have recently had to file for bankruptcy. But a company from Württemberg has been on hand several times.
The fashion retailer Röther is on a shopping spree: the Württemberg company recently took over the formerly insolvent fashion chain Adler. This is not the first acquisition of this kind for Röther.
After the insolvency in 2021, Adler was initially taken over by the logistics service provider Zeitfracht, but now the company wants to concentrate on its core business again. “For us, the purchase of Adler Modemärkte GmbH is an important strategic step in expanding our branch network,” say Michael and Thomas Röther. The growth potential with synergies from retail and wholesale should be expanded. The branches would continue to be run under the Adler umbrella brand.
The Adler fashion stores in Germany generated sales of 297 million euros last year and an operating result (EBITDA) of 6 million euros adjusted for special effects, and are opening new stores this year. The buyer and seller have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The takeover is still subject to approval by the authorities. The stores will continue to be operated under the Adler umbrella brand.
Last year, the shareholders of the Röther Group also took over the insolvent men’s fashion group Ahlers. Ahlers now owns a number of well-known fashion brands such as Pierre Cardin, Baldessarini, Otto Kern, Pioneer Jeans and Pionier Workwear. Unlike the current takeover of Adler, the company will no longer use the name Ahlers.
In addition, the company decided last September to close the online shops of the individual brands and its subsidiary R. Brand Group GmbH. These were not profitable.
Ahlers and Adler are by far not the only German fashion brands that have had problems in recent years. Fashion chains Sør, Aachener and Esprit, for example, filed for bankruptcy in 2024.
Röther has now secured the continued existence of the businesses for customers of Ahlers and Adler. The company’s beginnings were much more modest: in 1972, Martin and Margit Röther opened a jeans shop in Schwäbisch Hall. A few years later, the company moved to the industrial park in Michelfeld, then under the name Modepark Röther. In the following years, locations in Aalen and Heilbronn were added, and in 2015, the company expanded to Austria. Today, the Röther family business operates 51 Modepark branches in Germany and Austria and employs around 2,500 people.