Brantano (UK) Ltd was a British shoe retailer, owned by Alteri Investors. The company was started in 1998 by the purchase of 47 Shoe City stores from the British Shoe Corporation by the Belgian retailer Brantano Footwear. It was owned by Macintosh Retail Group until it was bought by Alteri in October 2015. The company entered administration in March 2017 and closed its last store in June 2017.

History

The company originated from a small factory in Lede, East Flanders operated by Andre Brantegem and his brother. Following the fall of the "Shoe City" in mid-1990s, Brantano took over it. Between 2008 and 2010, Brantano refurbished their stores to bring a new modern style to coincide with the television advertisement airing. In 2009, Brantano introduced a new concept of layout, by laying out merchandise in styles rather than sizes. In November 2011, Brantano opened their new website including many new features and a new streamlined design. In 2015, Brantano opened 36 new stores in the UK, and planned to expand into 2015-2016 to open many more stores. The company was purchased along with its sister company

Jones Bootmaker Jones Bootmaker is a footwear retailer based in the United Kingdom, with forty-two retail outlets throughout the United Kingdom. History In 1857, Alfred and Emma Jones opened a footwear shop in Bayswater, London. Jones was a pioneer in the i ...

by restructuring specialist Alteri Investors in October 2015 for £12 million. In January 2016, Brantano UK filed for

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

and was bought back by Alteri. Alteri filed an intention to appoint administrators for Jones on 15 March 2017, and entered Brantano into administration for a second time on 22 March 2017. All stores have since closed.

Brands

* Clarks *

Hush Puppies Hush Puppies is an American brand of casual footwear. A division of Wolverine World Wide, Hush Puppies is headquartered in Rockford, Michigan. Wolverine also licenses the Hush Puppies name for apparel, toys and accessories. Hush Puppies uses a ...

*US Brass *

CAT The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

*Wrangler *

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...

Reebok Reebok International Limited ( ) is an American footwear and clothing brand that is a part of Authentic Brands Group. It was established in England in 1958 as a companion company to J.W. Foster and Sons, a sporting goods company which had bee ...

* Rocket Dog *

Skechers Skechers USA, Inc. is an American multinational footwear and apparel company. Headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California, it was founded in 1992 and is the third largest footwear brand in the world. History Skechers was founded in 1992 by R ...

*Lotus *Lambretta * Puma * Gola *

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

*Rider *Pikolinos *Ravel *Pineapple *

KangaRoos Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey ...

* Kickers *Bootleg * OshKosh *Front *Frank Wright *Characters (e.g., Peppa Pig, Toy Story) Brantano has their own brands manufactured by external companies: *Red Level - Men's and Ladies (Discontinuing 2013/14) *Orchard - Men's and Ladies *Osaga, Mecury or MX2 - Men's, Ladies and Kids *Emilo Luca X - Men's and Ladies *Emilo Luca X Red - Men's and Ladies *Zinc - Men's *Stone Creek - Men's *Feet Street - Kids *B-Club - Kids *Skittles - Kids

Advertising

Brantano UK Ltd launched a television advert, which features a fictional psychologist called Anne-Marie Brantano, portrayed as one of the giants of twentieth century

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

along with

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...

and

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. A prolific author of Carl Jung publications, over 20 books, illustrator, and corr ...

. She is supposed to have discovered the 'sling-back synapse'; an imaginary part of the female brain in the shape of a shoe, which reveals what women want from their shoe shopping experience. It also describes the condition "shoe rage". The concept of the campaign was to change the public's perception of Brantano from a discount warehouse, to a high fashion, affordable shoe megastore.

Charity

Brantano UK has been helping to raise money for the baby charity

Tommy's Original Tommy's, previously known as Original Tommy's World Famous Hamburgers, is a fast food hamburger restaurant chain in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It is known for its hamburgers and chili burgers. History The original location ...

since 2008 and have raised £104,751.48 so far through its in-store fundraising events.

References

{{reflist, 30em British companies established in 1998 Clothing companies established in 1998 Retail companies established in 1998 Retail companies disestablished in 2017 British companies established in 2018 Clothing companies established in 2018 Retail companies established in 2018 Retail companies of the United Kingdom Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom Footwear retailers