Munich It’s a huge party that Alexander Nicolai is planning for the summer: the Lowa boss wants to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Bavarian hiking shoe manufacturer at the foot of the Zugspitze with 2,500 customers. Because things have never been better for the medium-sized company than they are today.
Lowa rushes from record to record and has a luxury problem. “Last year we could have sold even more, but the capacities weren’t there,” says Nicolai in an interview with the Handelsblatt. What’s more, there is no end in sight to the boom. “We’re almost sold out for this year.”
That’s not a matter of course. Mountain boots were among the most popular products during the corona pandemic, as were bicycles and computers. The manufacturers could no longer keep up with the orders. However, the PC market collapsed again last year. And with the bikes that were extremely scarce a year ago, the selection is now huge, and you can get huge discounts.
The order situation at Lowa is “very good”
Things are quite different with Lowa. “We don’t see any signs of a downturn,” says Nicolai. Consumer restraint or not: “The order situation is still very good.” According to the company, it sold a good 3.1 million pairs of shoes last year. That is around a quarter more than in 2020, when the corona virus paralyzed the world and people discovered nature on their own doorstep.
At the same time, sales rose by around 50 million to 236 million euros, more than ever before in the company’s history. For the current year, Nicolai expects a double-digit percentage increase.
“There is no sign of a downturn for us,” says the Lowa boss.
(Photo: Kerstin Rysavy)
Things didn’t always go so well: Lowa has an eventful past, and it is closely linked to a competitor: Hanwag. The history of the two companies is somewhat reminiscent of the sports shoe manufacturer Dassler, the founders of Adidas and Puma. In 1921, the shoemaker Hans Wagner started HaWa, the predecessor of Hanwag, in Vierkirchen, Upper Bavaria. Two years later, his brother Lorenz followed suit with Lowa in neighboring Jetzendorf.
Lowa went bankrupt for the first time in the 1950s
During the war both produced boots for the Wehrmacht. As early as the 1950s, Lowa had to file for bankruptcy for the first time, but survived the crisis. When winter holidays turned into mass entertainment, Hanwag and Lowa got into the ski boot business.
In the 1990s, the last member of the Wagner family left Lowa, and the company found itself in a difficult financial situation. Werner Riethmann was hired as the rescuer, who is still part of the management and holds a quarter of the shares. Under his direction, Lowa developed the business with light mountain boots and outdoor shoes. Since then, the majority owner has been the Zanatta family, owners of the Tecnica Group with brands such as Moonboot, Blizzard and Nordica. The Italians own the remaining 75 percent of the shares.
The eternal rival Hanwag manufactures just a few kilometers from Lowa.
(Photo: Hanwag)
Rival Hanwag remained in family ownership until 2004. Owner Josef Wagner then sold the business to Fenix Outdoor. The Swedish company behind the Globetrotter outdoor chain still owns Hanwag to this day.
Alongside Hanwag, the Meindl family business from Kirchanschöring in Bavaria is Lowa’s most important domestic rival. There are also European competitors such as Scarpa and La Sportiva from Italy.
The Italian family that owns Lowa made a groundbreaking acquisition possible in 2019: Lowa took over a shoe factory in Slovakia that now has 1,900 employees. In retrospect, the point in time just before the start of the pandemic was ideal: when the large sports groups ran out of supplies due to the lockdowns in Asia, Lowa was able to deliver reliably given the short distances. As has been the case for 100 years, Lowa also produces at its headquarters in Jetzendorf, half an hour’s drive north of Munich.
Customers remain loyal to Lowa for a long time
Lowa is an important partner for sports shops in Germany. According to the dealer association Intersport, the Bavarians are in fifth place among the top-selling brands. For comparison: competitor Meindl ranks tenth.
The brand enjoys a good reputation among retailers. Once customers are satisfied with Lowa, they would hardly ever switch to another brand later, says Stefan Fuchs, Managing Director of “SFU – Dinge Für Unterwegs” with large specialist shops in Braunschweig and Hanover. “That’s where Lowa’s experience in the construction of the shoes and the consistency in quality pay off.”
However, Lowa can hardly keep up with the delivery, as can its competitors Meindl and Hanwag. “The usual delivery performance has been over since the corona crisis at the latest,” complains Fuchs. “Unfortunately, recovery is still not in sight.”
Business is also going well at competitor Hanwag: “We got off to a very good start in 2023 and were able to grow again in double digits compared to 2022,” says Managing Director Thomas Gröger. “We produce under full load.”
Just like Lowa, Hanwag also manufactures entirely in Europe. That was a big advantage over the past few years, explains Gröger. In his opinion, the orders went well: “We were able to meet our delivery dates and thus be a reliable and predictable supplier for our trading partners.”
Meanwhile, Lowa boss Nicolai is reaching his limits in his plant in Slovakia. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find staff there.” The delivery times for urgently needed machines are also long.
Trail running aims to make Lowa younger and more dynamic
In addition, the company’s own people can make boots for mountaineering, as well as waterproof low shoes for walks. In May, however, Nicolai is launching the traditional company’s first trail running collection in stores.
The models resemble robust jogging shoes – and Nicolai has to buy them from specialists in Vietnam, just like the sports groups Adidas, Puma and Nike do. Because the light plastic shoes require completely different production processes than the mostly leather boots for the Alps.
With the entry into trail running, Nicolai wants to create the basis for further growth in the coming years. The brand should also appear “younger and more dynamic”. It is questionable whether this will work in view of strong competitors in this field such as Asics, Hoka or Salomon.
If you’re lucky, you can get an impression of the new collection for yourself. In the next few months, Nicolai will raffle the tickets for the big birthday party at the end of August – shoe tests included.
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