Brantano Footwear


Brantano Footwear was a European chain of retail stores specialising in footwear for men, women and children, that was founded in Belgium.
It went into administration in March 2017. The stores closed in June 2017 with the loss of over 900 jobs.

Origin

The company originated from a small factory run by André Brantegem and his brother in Lede, East Flanders. The Brantegem brothers were sons of a cobbler. They specialised in ladies' shoes which they sold to wholesalers and retailers in Belgium. Eventually the brothers separated and in 1962 André initiated a retail outlet at the factory. This evolved into the Brantano chain of shoe shops.
Brantano closed its Dutch and Danish stores in 2005, and subsequently liquidated its French stores.
In 2007, Dutch holding company Macintosh Retail Group took over ownership of Brantano. In 2015, Macintosh sold the Brantano UK subsidiary to Alteri Investors.

Subsidiaries