Corporate News

GERRY WEBER to focus on core brands

(Halle/Westphalia, 25 October 2018) talkabout, the youngest label of GERRY WEBER International AG, the international fashion company headquartered in Halle/Westphalia (Germany), will be discontinued. As part of the current Performance Programme and the extensive transformation, the company will now focus on its core brands, GERRY WEBER, TAIFUN and SAMOON as well as HALLHUBER.

"In view of the economic challenges facing our company, we are pooling our forces and will focus on our core business to be successful in the long term. This is why we have decided to discontinue the youngest brand of the GERRY WEBER Group," says Johannes Ehling, member of the Managing Board and CEO designate.

The talkabout employees have already been informed of this plan. Most of them will be integrated within the company. Johannes Ehling, member of the Managing Board and CEO designate, commented: "We would like to thank the entire talkabout team, most importantly Product Manager Viktoria Simeoni, for the commitment they have shown during the market launch of the label. Although great progress has been achieved in the market and the team have done a great job, we are currently unable to further build up our youngest brand."

The talkabout label was launched in June 2016. The brand was developed exclusively for wholesale customers and is positioned in a niche between Mainstream and Contemporary. Most recently, talkabout had about 170 customers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Benelux as well as in Budapest and Prague. The last collection will be delivered in February 2019.

GERRY WEBER's talkabout label was the first pure wholesale brand with a fully vertically integrated monthly collection and customised merchandise management for specialist retailers. It allowed the company to gain valuable experience, which will now benefit the core brands. Based on forward cover planning, the customised merchandise management system will be installed for the GERRY WEBER, TAIFUN and SAMOON brands starting next year.

"The new merchandise management system, which reflects the new monthly sales intervals, also responds to the changes in our markets and the strongly changing purchasing behaviour of our customers," emphasised Johannes Ehling, member of the Managing Board and CEO designate.

The GERRY WEBER Group

GERRY WEBER International AG, headquartered in Halle/Westphalia, operates on a global scale and unites five strong fashion brands under one roof: GERRY WEBER, TAIFUN, SAMOON, talkabout, and HALLHUBER. Since its beginning in 1973 GERRY WEBER International AG, which is listed in the in the Prime Standard of Deutsche Börse, has become one of the best known German fashion and lifestyle companies with approximately 1,230 company-managed stores and sales spaces (incl. 410 from HALLHUBER), approximately 2,480 shop-in-shops and 280 franchised stores worldwide as well as brand online-shops in nine countries. With some 6,500 employees worldwide (including about 2,000 from HALLHUBER) and distribution channels in roughly 60 countries, the GERRY WEBER Group is one of the largest listed fashion companies in Germany.

In the financial year 2016/17 (1 November 2016 to 31 October 2017) the GERRY WEBER Group generated sales revenues of EUR 880.9 million and operating income (EBIT) in the amount of EUR 10.3 million. The HALLHUBER subsidiary, which was acquired in February 2015, contributed EUR 194.3 million to GERRY WEBER Group sales.

GERRY WEBER International AG