Swiss Fund Arklyz Acquires German Footwear Company Gabor

Arklyz steps on the accelerator in footwear. The Stans-based Swiss fund has acquired Gabor, a German company specializing in women’s footwear and hitherto controlled by the founding family. The investor has not disclosed the price of the transaction, which already has the necessary regulatory approvals.

According to DPA, the transaction leaves Gabor fully in the hands of Arklyz, which has confirmed that it will maintain the brand and that the current management team will continue to run the business.

Founded in 2018, Arklyz is an investment company active in sports, fashion and footwear. In 2024, the holding company strengthened its perimeter with the acquisition of Lloyd, also a German footwear brand, based in Sulingen, Lower Saxony.

The German footwear company Gabor was founded in 1919 and today has factories in Portugal and Slovakia

Gabor’s origins date back to 1919, when the company was born as a shoe workshop in what was then Upper Silesia, today the territory of Poland. Since 1966, the company has been based in Rosenheim (Bavaria).

Although it maintains its headquarters in Germany, production takes place outside the country. In 2023, the group employed just under 2,630 people, of whom 366 were in Germany, with the bulk of the workforce concentrated in two factories in Portugal and Slovakia.

According to the German commercial register, Gabor closed 2023 with a net profit of €13.4 million and a turnover of €282 million.