The story
The company was founded in 1969 by Bernd Freier (who was also its billionaire CEO until 2014 ) as a small boutique in Würzburg with only 25 square metres of floor space, named Sir Oliver after the hero of Charles Dickens's novel, Oliver Twist. To reflect the spirit of the times, the "Sir" was added to the name in homage to the London fashion scene and to add international flair to the boutique, as the British capital's most successful gentleman's outfitters also featured a "Sir" in their names.
In the 1970s, fashion suppliers were frequently unable to deliver the quantities ordered by retailers or to deliver them on time. In 1974, Bernd Freier decided to travel to India to negotiate directly with local textile manufacturers, thereby gaining independence from the wholesalers. Subsequently, he had his own successful range of "Madras Check shirts" manufactured, which found a ready market in Germany, sold through, amongst others, E. Breuninger GmbH & Co, Uli Knecht, Wöhrl and Wormland. In 1978, following a legal dispute with '4711', the eau de Cologne brand owned by Mäurer & Wirtz GmbH & Co. KG perfume manufacturers, who had registered the name "Sir" as a trademark, "Sir Oliver" was changed to the current brand name, s.Oliver, and registered under that name in 1979 with the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) in Munich.
In 1987, s.Oliver bought out denim fashion manufacturer Chicago and re-launched the brand under the name Knockout.
In 1993, Chaloc GmbH was founded, becoming the well-known comma brand in 2002. comma now operates autonomously and completely independent from s.Oliver. In 1998, the first retail store outside Germany was opened in Austria. Shops in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg soon followed. Over the next few years, s.Oliver carried on expanding in countries such as the Czech Republic and Poland. s.Oliver developed in this way into one of Germany's—and Europe's—leading fashion companies within a few decades, offering a range of fashion and lifestyle products for all ages.
In 2001, s.Oliver took over the German fashion brand comma. 2008 saw the opening and inauguration of the new s.Oliver headquarters in Rottendorf, including "s.Oliver Mini Club", the company's own day care.
The company currently owns a total of 173 retail stores, as well as running 400 stores in cooperation with partner companies; its products are also sold in 1,991 shops and feature on 2,507 sales floors. Today, s.Oliver is to be found in more than 30 countries, for example in Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Belgium, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, France, Italy, Czech Republic and India. The company has managed to more than quadruple its turnover since 1995, passing a billion euros in 2007. In 2009, the s.Oliver Group generated a brand turnover total of 1.16 billion euros. A once tiny retail store has grown into one of Europe's 20 largest fashion companies. The new head office in Rottendorf was completed in September 2008. s.Oliver celebrated its 40th company anniversary in 2009.
Bernd Freier left the management of the company in November 2019. From 4 November 2019 to December 2022 Claus-Dietrich Lahrs was the CEO of s.Oliver.[1] The current CEO is Jürgen Otto, since December 2022.[2]
From Wikipedia’s article on S.Oliver, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5