The 6th generation of a success story:
New chapters and highlights
Leonard von Pfister runs a very successful family business –
the fashion label LODENFREY. He reveals how this came about here.
In the sixth generation, the 30-year-old heir, Leonard von Pfister, has already run Aunt Dr.'s company. Sabine Frey took over. Unlike in many family businesses, where successors are determined from childhood,
this decision was made with the Freys only met a few years ago.
In 2019, his uncle Dr. Klaus Faust, the husband of Dr. Sabine Frey whether he would like to take over as successor. Leonard, who had studied political science at Lake Constance and in Colombia and wanted to work in political consulting, was initially hesitant. He asked for a year of probation and brought his younger sister Antonia on board. It quickly became clear that they could imagine a change in the industry.
While the Pfisters stayed with Lodenfrey, the corona pandemic came on the scene. The 30-year-old heir to the company describes the start at this time as difficult, but it is convinced that the crisis at the beginning of his career and the company strengthened him. This statement may seem surprising at first glance, as many fashion companies have to overcome economic challenges in the face of inflation,
the energy crisis and a shortage of skilled workers.
While the general conditions for consuming high-quality textile products such as loden jackets are difficult, von Pfister not only looks at the market, but also at society as a whole. He recognizes that the zeitgeist is favorable for a company as rich in tradition as LODENFREY, which has existed for more than 180 years.
In 1842, Johann Georg Frey came to Munich from the Ulm region and founded a production facility for woven wool fabrics, loden, cloths, velvet and silk. In 1855, Frey developed the first functional jacket in history
made of water-repellent loden and received the gold medal for it at the Paris World Exhibition.
It is said that even noble circles around Emperor Franz Joseph I from then on preferred LODENFREY products when hunting. The company flourished and the first factory was built. The rest is history –
the history of one of the largest German textile companies.
