The next generation

Lorenz Wagner had to reor­ganise the shoe factory after the end of World War II. The buildings and machinery were still in place. But boots for mountain infantry soldiers were no longer needed, and the French prisoners of war who made up most of LOWA’s workforce had returned home.

Even though demand for shoes was heavy during the postwar years – the competition was, too. The Wagner brothers in Weichs and Vierkirchen were vying against other shoe factories in and around Munich to establish their place in the marketplace.

The “Ilmtaler Sportschuh­fabrik” had to reinvent itself, hire workers and attract new customers. Lorenz Wagner created the LOWA brand using the first two letters of his two names. The first collections sold during the postwar years had a very wide range. LOWA produced more and more Bavarian Haferl shoes, moun­tain­eering boots and ski boots as well as sandals, light­weight low-cut shoes, après ski boots and fur slippers.

Material and money were in short supply at the beginning of the 1950s. The Korean crisis intensified this situation. Leather, the essential material of LOWA’s business, was in short supply, and prices for it were extremely high. Lorenz Wagner bought huge amounts of leather.

Sepp Lederer talked about the reasons for Wagner’s buying decisions in an interview he gave later: “A few cunning busi­nesspeople took advantage of the situation and said: buy, buy! – the price is just going to go up! Six months later, the Korean crisis had passed and leather prices plummeted. This was 1950/51. One day, we could not get any more money from the bank to pay our wages.” – LOWA faced bank­ruptcy.

A plan to save the shoe factory was needed. Fortu­nately, Lorenz Wagner had exactly the right man and the right woman already at the company. His daughter Berta (Berti) Wagner was commercial director of LOWA at this point. Sepp Lederer, who had recently been released from POW camp, was working as a shop manager in the shoe factory. Sepp Lederer had actually been planning to stay “just one year”. But he could not abandon the company during this financial crisis. He and his future wife assumed respons­ibility for the company. The creditors urged LOWA to reach a settlement, but Sepp and Berti succeeded in nego­tiating a moratorium with them – that is a delay in payments.

It was a highly stressful time. Berti Lederer later said that the company faced bank­ruptcy every month and it had to be prevented over and over again. But the two managed to overcome the chal­lenges – and the events drew Berti and Sepp closer together. They married on 5 July 1952. Lorenz Wagner exper­ienced these dramatic events during the last year of his life. He died in 1953 at the age of 60. But LOWA was not out of the woods yet.

Berti Lederer recalled the events decades later: “I was about to give birth when my father died in April 1953. Sepp and I walked behind the coffin on the way to the cemetery. We were over­whelmed by the outpouring of sympathy we received in Jetzendorf. Sepp spon­tan­eously pressed my arm and said as he looked over the entire workforce that was attending the funeral: We simply cannot close the company. That would be the last thing that Lorenz would have wanted. We’ll keep going!”

The Korean conflict causes the avail­ability and prices of leather to swing sharply, and the company miscal­culates. The former apprentice Josef Lederer, who was managing director by this time, and Lorenz’s daughter Berta, the head of sales, rescue the company. Josef and Berta marry on 5 July.

Sepp and Berta Lederer succeed in stabilising the economic situation of the shoe factory.

Josef Lederer and his brother-in-law Josef Wagner become personally liable partners. Berti Lederer acts as limited partner. The new marketing strategy: LOWA focuses on collab­oration with exper­ienced mountain climbers and provides the equipment used during exped­itions to the world’s highest mountains during the following years.

At this point, the company employs 95 people and generates turnover of about DM 2.5 million.

After acquiring a vulcanising system in the 1960s, he purchases a poly­urethane injection moulding machine for ski boots. In doing so, he becomes an industry pace­setter. LOWA TOTAL is introduced to the market.

With the help of an inflatable air cushion, the inner-boot of a ski boot can be adjusted to exactly fit the wearer’s foot. The new boot is christened LOWA AIR and remains a top seller for years.

On 25 October 1977, Fritz Müller of Interlaken signs an agreement that remains in effect today LOWA Switzerland continues to be a subsidiary.

With the TREKKER model, LOWA ventures into new terrain. With success! From now on, trekking shoes are an integral part of the collection.

Twenty percent of the company’s shoes are exported.

After Josef Wagner leaves LOWA in 1979, Josef Lederer resigns from his position and passes the reins of lead­ership to his son Stefan Lederer. Stefan Lederer then develops the area of trekking shoes and light­weight hiking boots.