The St Gallen-based company, which has been granted a four-month moratorium, has been unable to convince new investors or turn around its financial situation in the face of an unpredictable and massive decline in demand since last October.
In a press release issued on Tuesday, Vögele Shoes said it had obtained a four-month debt-restructuring moratorium on October 13. It said that in view of the unfavourable business development and the failure of discussions with various investors, the board of directors and the management had decided, in agreement with the relevant commissioner, to terminate the company’s commercial activities, “probably by the end of 2022 at the latest”.
Vögele Shoes added that it was in close contact with the 131 employees affected by the decision, the trade unions and human resources specialists. Discussions are also underway with partners and suppliers in order to organise the orderly winding down of sites and stocks of goods by the end of the year.
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Long live the shoe!
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Shoes are hard to recycle because they’re made of tiny bits of different materials. To lessen their impact on the environment they can however be cared for so as to make them live longer: that’s where cobblers come in handy. To adapt to new types of shoes, a new shop in Geneva offers pressing and cobbling…
The company has its roots in a cobbler’s shop opened by Karl Vögele in Uznach, northeastern Switzerland, in 1922. Vögele expanded the range to include mail-order shoe sales in 1955. The following year he opened the first shoe fashion shop in Chur.
It remained an independent family business until 2018, when it was bought by the Polish CCC Group. It was then sold to German company cm.shoes last year. Shareholders wanted to lead the group “into an even more digital future”, they said at the time.
Vögele Shoes had already been struggling with falling sales before Covid, but the pandemic and associated temporary closures were the final straw.
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Vögele Shoes, hit by coronavirus, to lose 60 stores
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Switzerland’s second-biggest shoe chain Vögele Shoes is to close 60 stores in the country.
Nature magazine: scientific breakthroughs in medicine and space travel in 2025
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The science magazine Nature expects breakthroughs in mind-reading machines, new weight-loss drugs, and particle physics in 2025.
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Swiss minister Karin Keller-Sutter wants to use Platform X to communicate with the population during her term as president in 2025.
Swiss Post delivers record number of parcels in pre-Christmas period
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Swiss Post delivered a total of 22.3 million parcels between the Black Friday promotional week at the end of November and Christmas.
SWISS plane in Graz: employee still in intensive care
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The cabin crew member of the SWISS Airbus A220 which made an emergency landing in Graz, Austria, on Monday is still in intensive care.
WWF sounds alarm: wildlife populations are plummeting
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The WWF’s Living Planet Report 2024 found that the wild animal populations surveyed have shrunk by an average of 73% over the last 50 years.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
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The making of a Swiss footwear multinational
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Swiss footwear company On is making a name for itself in an industry that has been dominated by big players like Nike. What makes it different?
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.