Gabor

Sure-footed into jubilee year

Gabor is striding sure-footedly into its 60th year. Despite the global economic recession which increasingly is spilling over into the shoe sector too, Gabor is in fine shape at the start of this jubilee year 2009 and is optimistic that it will pull through without too many scuffs.

While the volume of orders for its Spring/Summer 2009 collections did not quite live up to expectations, the fall-off was moderate. It remains to be seen how the retail sector will behave when it comes to ordering for the upcoming Autumn/Winter 2009 season. Purchasers are tending to be cautious and are scaling down their order limits.

The signs that cash for new orders is lacking are coming first and foremost from export. This applies notably to markets where steady growth in the past few years has had a highly positive impact on the company, but which are now being forced to cut back owing to the economic recession triggered by the financial crisis.

However, Gabor’s results in 2008 and the preceding years constitute a solid bolster that will help see it through the difficult jubilee year of 2009. If we include subsidiary Gabor Footwear GmbH and its camel active brand, plus profits from corporate-owned shops and franchises, turnover climbed 2.5 percent, from 299 million to 305 million euros. 

Gabor's core business edged up three percent, accounting for the lion's share of turnover at 239.5 million euros (against 232.7 million the previous year). Camel active footwear fell back slightly, posting turnover of 56.4 million euros (against the previous year’s 57.1 million).

More than half of Gabor’s turnover in 2008 was generated abroad. Virtually unchanged year on year, the share of exports stood at 55 percent. In contrast, turnover for subsidiary Gabor Footwear GmbH, with its camel active brand, is anchored first and foremost in the domestic market.

As a group, Gabor pushed its sales of shoes up from 7.532 to 7.767 million pairs. This growth breaks down into 3.1 percent growth by the Gabor brand, while camel active posted a 2.6 percent slide.

Expansion is in the pipeline both for Gabor’s own retail business as well as its partner-operated Shop & Store concept. To date, Gabor has 392 partner-operated shops, 171 of which are in Germany and already 56 in China. Worldwide, it plans to open a further 60 new shops in collaboration with specialist retail partners.

In late 2008, Gabor was operating 12 factory outlets selling goods from previous seasons, samples and old stock.

At the end of tax year 2008, Gabor had a workforce of 3,208 employees in Germany and the rest of Europe. The corporate headquarters in Rosenheim, also the home base of Development, Marketing and Administration, employs 220 people.

As in past years, Gabor will continue to focus investment on innovative product design and production technology. In 2008, the company invested a good seven million euros in maintaining its edge over international competitors.

At the same, it continued to invest in the brand. Gabor invested millions in consumer advertising alone to make the products and the brand even more attractive to retailers and consumers.

For its 60th anniversary, Gabor has undergone a complete facelift. The corporate image and brand have been revamped, while the Shop & Store concept too has been given clearer brand focus, presenting a more minimalist, but more exclusive, face.

In its jubilee year 2009, Gabor has faith in its own strength and in the trust of its customers. “It’s precisely in uncertain times that consumers go with reliable quality and opt for trusted brands,” says Achim Gabor, CEO of the Rosenheim-based shoe manufacturer.