Willy Bogner to step back from fashion brand

Willy Bogner is taking a step back from his fashion business, Bogner. The former alpine ski racer is to hand over his role as shareholder to a trust fund led by auditor Arndt Geiwitz, announced his sports fashion brand Bogner on Friday.

"As I approach 78 years of age, I  realised that I can no longer support the company as energetically and intensively as I would like to,” Bogner said. The news of his retirement was first reported by German newspapers Handelsblatt and Spiegel.

Over the past two years, the company executed “the first steps on the road to success,”  Bogner said in a letter sent to staff and seen by news agency DPA. In 2018, the company reported sales of 159 million euros and a pre-tax profit of about 300,000 euros. The current financial year is expected to deliver a strong set of results.

Bogner said his decision to leave the company was not an easy one. But he added: “Sportsmanship also means stepping aside when necessary, in favour of the team and its common goal." In October, Bogner’s daughter Florinda Bogner joined the supervisory board, but the founder said she has no wish to assume an active role within the company. 

But it seems Bogner will not completely leave the company, which has about 800 employees. In a letter sent to employees, he said that the new configuration will allow him to “focus on my ideas regarding the development of the brand, design and collections”. Arndt Geiwitz is no stranger to the fashion company. In the past, he led the restructuring of Schlecker and Weltbild.