Bally Shoe
Bally is a 1851 by Carl Franz Bally was established in Schönenwerd Swiss shoe manufacturer. The company began by her ladies and men's shoes, and later accessories. The international luxury brand Bally ( as a manufacturer of footwear, apparel and accessories) is since 2008 owned by the Austrian Labelux Group GmbH.
Creation and global expansion
1851 by Carl Franz Bally (1822 - 1899) founded the shoe factory " Bally & Co " in the Swiss Schönenwerd and his brother Fritz Bally. This factory emerged from the guarantees given by the father operation, a rubber band and suspender factory. Fritz retired in 1854 from the operation of, prompting the company in CF Bally Co. was renamed and opened branches in Bern, Basel and Zurich.
1860 Bally employed more than 500 workers. After another decade, the company expanded outside of Switzerland with offices in Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Paris. Bally shoes were thanks to excellent materials, quality and workmanship to luxury products.
Carl Franz Bally died in 1899 and the company was continued by his sons, Edward and Arthur. At this time, about 2 million pairs of shoes were produced and sold in several European countries, North and South America every year. The company employs 3200 people. In 1907 the IPO, but the family Bally retained the majority of votes. The additional capital allowed for a massive expansion. 1908 for the first time the Bally logo was introduced which created by various artists billboard campaigns graced. 1916, the company employed more than 7,000 people and produced 3.9 million pairs of shoes.
Bally survived the Great Depression and the Second World War by expanded its portfolio to sports shoes and military boots. In the postwar period, the company expanded and established itself successfully in the global market. 1942, the former home was to rock garden by Carl Franz Bally converted into Schönenwerd in a shoe museum, which exists today as Bally Shoe Museum. 1951 launched Max Bally, grandson of C. F. Bally, the Scribe, a welted men's shoe, named after the Paris Hôtel Scribe and is manufactured to this day. 1953 was Edmund Hillary first ascent of Mount Everest boots by Bally. 1976 clothing, handbags and other leather accessories were included in the range.
Hard Times, sales and new beginnings
1976 became the Swiss financier Werner K. Rey majority share in Bally, he had to sell to public pressure in the following year.
1977 pulled the Bally family back from the company. The arms company Oerlikon - Buehrle under Dieter Buehrle took over in 1977 the majority of shares of Rey. This was followed by hard times, as the company was increasingly beset by cheap imports from developing countries, which have flooded the world market. Mismanagement, unwise licensing and inevitable quality reductions in the 1980s damaged the reputation of the brand Bally. Due to the decentralized organizational structure of the Bally Bally International AG had completely different depending on the country, irregular profiles. Thousands of workers were laid off in the recessionary years of 1990 and numerous factories have been closed, including the flagship store in Schönenwerd. The operating loss in 1995 amounted to 6.7 million francs.
Oerlikon - Buehrle sold his shares in 1999 at the U.S. investment company Texas Pacific Group (TPG ). During this time, Bally operating over 400 of its own boutiques. TPG restructured the operation, reduced the branch network, changed the distribution concept and put the Italians and former Gucci Manager Marco Franchini as CEO as well as the New York designer and former Salvatore Ferragamo Leaders Scott Fellows as creative director. Bally repositioned increasingly successful as a lifestyle brand in the luxury segment. One concentrated on its core business shoes and since 2004 the company wrote back in the black. In 2001 the company celebrated its 150th anniversary. The chief designer Fellows left the company in late 2002 because his creations were not commercially successful; he was succeeded to 2006 the designer Luca Ragonese (1969 - 2006).
Since 2000 is the company's headquarters in the Swiss Caslano, where the company previously owned a production facility. The transfer of the headquarters of Schönenwerd to Ticino had been justified by the proximity to the fashion capital of Milan. 2007, the Fondazione per la Cultura Bally was founded ( " Bally Foundation for Culture " ) for the promotion of artists from the Ticino region in Caslano.
Bally in popular culture
In the late 1980s, Bally shoes reached iconic status among rappers. Known representatives of the scene mentioned Bally's in their songs, including Jay -Z and Slick Rick. The latter was rapping in 1985 in " The Show / La Di Da Di " following sentence: " Put on the Bally shoes and the fly green socks ." Bally shoes are also an icon of the old school scene.
Bally today
In April 2008, the company for an estimated € 370 million was sold again. The new owner, who founded in Vienna in 2007 Labelux Group GmbH, part of the German Johann A. Benckiser SE, which also owns a stake in Reckitt Benckiser. To Labelux group belong to the state in 2011 also the brand Belstaff (clothing), Jimmy Choo, Derek Lam and Solange Azagury - Partridge (jewelery). The group moved in late 2011 its headquarters from Vienna to Caslano, location of the headquarters of Bally. The Bally sales were last given in 2008 with € 400 million, since no figures have been published. End of the 2000s made up of footwear (50%), bags and accessories, Bally revenues sat down (40 % ) and clothing (10 %). As of 2009, the German Berndt main grain was (* 1968) successor of Marco Franchini and thus CEO of Bally. Main grain was involved from 2007 in the construction of Labelux Group, where he held until the end of 2009 the position of CEO. He left the company in December 2011. Took over on an interim Reinhard Mieck, since 2010 CEO of Labelux Group and from 1997 employees at Reckitt Benckiser, the place.
Bally operates globally about 250 stores - in Germany in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Munich, as well as factory outlets in Metzingen and Wertheim - also 72 duty-free operations at international airports and, since 2009 an online shop and served numerous independent business partners worldwide. From February 2007, the American Brian Atwood, previously designer at Versace and designer of his own shoe label, creative director at Bally's was. In the spring of 2010, the Labelux Group announced that it 's splitting of Atwood and he will be replaced by the former Aquascutum designer Graeme Fidler and Michael Herz from the UK. The design studio of Bally (15 employees) has since been held in London, the production remained in Italy. 2011, the company employed 1,560 people, including 430 in Switzerland.
For the summer 2010 campaign Bally undertook the model Christy Turlington and actor Til Schweiger as testimonials.