Brantano Footwear
| Public | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1962 |
| Headquarters | Lede, Belgium |
Number of locations | 286 stores |
Area served | Europe, Middle East |
Key people | André Brantegem, Founder |
| Products | Footwear |
| Revenue |
 €295.2 million (FY 2006) |
 €35.9 million (FY 2006) | |
|
€29.5 million (FY 2006) | |
Number of employees | 2,945[1] |
| Parent |
Brantano N.V. (1962-2007) Macintosh Retail Group (2007-2016) |
| Website | www.brantano.com |
Brantano Footwear is a European chain of retail stores specialising in footwear for men, women and children, that was founded in Belgium.
Origin
The company originated from a small factory run by André Brantegem and his brother in Lede, East Flanders. The Brantegem brothers were sons of a cobbler. They specialised in ladies' shoes which they sold to wholesalers and retailers in Belgium. Eventually the brothers separated and in 1962 André initiated a retail outlet at the factory. This evolved into the Brantano chain of shoe shops.
Brantano closed its Dutch and Danish stores in 2005, and subsequently liquidated its French stores.
In 2007, Dutch holding company Macintosh Retail Group took over ownership of Brantano.
Subsidiaries
- Brantano Luxembourg SA, operates stores in Luxembourg.
- Brimmo NV and Muys NV, operates stores in Belgium.
- Brantano (UK) Ltd
Brantano UK
| Limited | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Headquarters | Interlink Way West, Bardon, UK, United Kingdom |
Number of locations | 165+ stores[2] |
Area served | United Kingdom |
Key people | David Short (CEO) |
| Products | Footwear |
Number of employees | 2000+ |
| Website |
www |
Brantano (UK) Ltd, British subsidiary, was started in 1998 by the purchase of 47 Shoe City stores from the British Shoe Corporation.[3] The British subsidiary was owned by Macintosh Retail Group before being sold to Alteri Group for £12M alongside its sister company Jones Bootmaker, The company currently operates over 145 stores in UK.
Developments
Television advertising campaign
Brantano UK Ltd launched a television advert which features a fictional psychologist called Anne-Marie Brantano, portrayed as one of the giants of twentieth century psychology along with Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. She is supposed to have discovered the 'sling-back synapse'; an imaginary part of the female brain in the shape of a shoe which reveals what women want from their shoe shopping experience. It also describes the condition "shoe rage". The concept of the campaign was to change the public's perception of Brantano from a discount warehouse, to a high fashion, affordable shoe megastore.
Expansion
In 2015 Brantano opened 36 new stores in the UK and planned to expand into 2015-2016 to open many more stores.
Other developments
- From 2008 to 2010, Brantano UK Ltd refurbished their stores to bring a new modern style to coincide with the television advertisement airing. In 2009 Brantano introduced a new concept of layout, by laying out merchandise in styles rather than sizes.
- In November 2011 Brantano opened their new website include many new features and a new streamlined design.
- In January 2016, Brantano UK filed for administration.
Brands
Own brands
Brantano has their own brands manufactured by external companies.
- Red Level - Men's and Ladies (Discontinuing 2013/14)
- Orchard - Men's and Ladies
- Osaga, Mecury or MX2 - Men's, Ladies and Kids
- Emilo Luca X - Men's and Ladies
- Emilo Luca X Red - Men's and Ladies
- Zinc - Men's
- Stone Creek - Men's
- Feet Street - Kids
- B-Club - Kids
- Skittles - Kids
Tommy's partnership
Brantano UK has been helping to raise money for the baby charity Tommy's since 2008 and have raised £104,751.48[4] so far through its in-store fundraising events.