ZEHA Berli

Company Description

About Zeha BerlinZEHA Berli story is typical for Berlin, unconventional, crazy, influencedby the changing times and always with thevision: to make cool sneakers with the typical doublestripes. The Zeha story started over 100 years ago. The rise and fall of theBerliner wall belongs to the made in the GDR just as much as theBerlin of the wild 90s with its anarchy and night club culture.In 2002 came the crucial re-launch. With lots of optimism andcourage, the new style Zeha sport shoes were introduced to thewaiting market. We want to revive the unmistakable style ofsneakers worn by the East Berlin youth. Today the whole world is wearing Zeha Berlin sneakers. People lovethe tough and colorful styles of street wear- or the Carl HssnerCollection which make our models to that what they are, modern,fresh and from Berlin. Through the years weve almostgrown up. Weve developed the UrbanClassic Collection, handmade leather shoes made of the highestquality materials, homage to the personal lifestyle with thatspecial certain something. Our new accessories and bag collection, for travelling in style,business or relaxed everyday life, completes our portfolio for thetime being.Zeha Berlin philosophy and quality guidelines.Apart from new trends and inspirations which we find both in Berlinand on our travels, the high quality of the materials and theirprocessing and production, as well as fair production conditionsbelong to the crucial characteristics of the Zeha Berlinphilosophy. Our shoes and accessories are hand made exclusively inPortugal and Slovakia. The high quality natural leather types areprocessed in select leather tanneries and manufactured according tocertified quality controls.The Zeha Berlin Story1897- Where it started!Far away from Berlin, in Weida in Thueringen, Carl Haessner foundedthe Zeha Leather ManufactoryFor mens and ladies shoes in 1897.The golden twenties!In dance on the volcano, coffee house culture and variety-nights.In the twenties Zeha shoes were much loved by the Berlin artistsand big city bohemians alike. Quality and refinement make the shoevariations to sought after objects.The 1950s: Nothing ventured, nothing gained.Reconstruction, the division of Germany and the establishment ofthe former GDR are changes which Carl Haessner has to compete with.Following his intuition he decided to concentrate completely onsneakers and risk starting from scratch. In 1954 he entered theZeha sneaker with the double stripes as copywrite brand name. Theactual birth of the Zeha Berlin sneaker.The 1960s: 17 Million wearing Zeha!Zeha models are the sport shoes in the former GDR, whether byschool sport, in the schoolyard, or as official supplier for theGDR athletes in 60 disciplines, everyone knows and wears Zeha. Zehadeveloped the first football shoes with nobs and spikes or thelightest running shoes in international comparison. The 1980s: We can be heroes.The Berlin wall falls. The two halves of Berlin are reunited,economic chaos in the east. Zeha fails in the attempt to goprivate.2002 East Berliners dream and a new start!Alexander Barre, grown up in East Berlin and a qualified engineer,discovers by accident at a friends house the familiar Zeha sportshoe of his youth. Equipped with a shoe he and his friend TorstonHeine visit the local museum in Weida.In the attic they find original Zeha shoes from the 50s and 60s,old shoe templates, leather samples and productcatalogues. The dream of Zeha Berlin and the sport shoe revival is born.Scarcely one year later, 2003, the first 43 Zeha Berlin pairs aresold for Christmas in three different Styles in BERLINOMAT. Withbusiness courage, many visions, equity financing and the support offriends Zeha Berlin makes a new start.We are developing completely new shoes for the most diverse kindsof sport from the old Zeha design templates, like tournamentfishing rod shoes or fencing shoes. Hundreds of designs from theCarl Haessner archives are available to us. We would like to makeall of them, but, for the time being, we decided on the running andtraining shoes and the hand ball shoes Tempo and Finalist.2003: Our first Streetwear collectioncomes on the market and is inspired by the run & sport shoesfrom the 70's and 60's. Extremely light shoes with perfectcushioning made completely out of leather.2006 Carl Hssner Revival & Sneaker-Hype!For the Football WM 2006 in Germany, in honor of the foundingfather of Zeha we designed, together with Jrgen Sparwasser, a CarlHssner collection. The WM collection in Retro-Style was anastounding success and together with the models Liga and Club stillranks today as one of our top sellers. Meanwhile, apart from Europe, we are exporting Zeha Berlincollections worldwide to countries such as Japan, USA, Canada andAsia.2007 Urban Classics and Bag collection!Inspired from our travels, by forms and colors, visits totraditional tanneries and manufacturers, we introduced in 2007, theUrban Classics collection with ladies and mens shoes. Because ofthe high quality production at the manufacturers and the specialwax treatment of the natural leather each model is individual. Allshoes are made and sewn by hand and because of this very exclusivemethod of production, each pair is unique.In the same year we are launching our bag collection with timelessand high quality travel and office bags made from various types ofleather in elegant colors..2008 Zeha Berlin and the first stores!We open our first stores in Berlin. With individual themes anddesigns each store tells a part of Zeha Berlins history: whetherits a gym with old sports equipment, an old cobblers shop or aretro style living room.2012 Were going to Mannheim!The first Zeha Berlin store outside of Berlin is opened inMannheim.2013 Change!After eleven years Zeha Berlin Torsten Heine leaves and AlexanderBarre is the sole CEO.2014: Our dream models become reality!We bring the Fencer and Walker models out on the market, just as wewould like to have done in 2002.2014: New in! Lifestyle Accessories!Excellent city and tote bags, smart back packs, leather accessoriesfor those fond of travelling and for Berlin locals now complete ourLifestyle and Accessories Portfolio.