The German shoe dad, Fritz Otel, has passed away

FRitz Uttel stood firmly on German soil with his boot – and it was surprisingly easy to go down the road in world history. Perhaps it would be an exaggeration to say that this man taught German style. They, however, prove their style, allegedly in sanitary sandals and practical clothes by wearing unhelpful shoes.

The sole is made of leather, the upper is made of leather, ironed and smoothed, this is how every pair of the Munich brand left the factory. Ballerina slippers of cheerful colors were especially popular. In 1989, at a time when summer and winter wardrobes still existed, Fritz Onotzer started with his shoes, with fashion trends and fashion colors to match the seasons and finally a clearance sale.

Uutile custom system

Fritz Otell knew the system. His father had a fashion store on Maximilianstraße, which he followed with his brother. The young man was on good terms with Boots, for he not only studied economics at Inside in Paris, but also worked at Church’s and John Lobb’s in Great Britain.

In the 1980s, he accidentally discovered that a shoe factory for sale in Fosso, near Venice, had been recommended to him by an acquaintance, and when he pulled out at the last minute, Autel signed himself up—to produce shoes in Italy. So, while other companies outsourced their production to low-wage countries, he remained faithful to the motherland of manual labor. and supplied all the Eickhoffs, Ungers, Breuningers and Engelhorns from Italy – and their own shops in Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and Venice.

He taught himself Italian with cassette tapes and a Walkman. Over time, he began to plant fruit trees around the factory premises, cherries and apples, as well as kiwi plants and vines. Otell, born in Munich in 1947, arrived in Italy and was always on the move. A typical week a decade ago looked like this for the busy businessman, who was in his mid-60s at the time: two days at headquarters in Munich, two days at the factory in Vossu, and three days with three younger than five. Children near Brighton in the south of England where they live with their mother because of the better schools. In the years since, the brand has become more subdued. The demand for comfort, such as walking on clouds rather than leather slippers, was also prevalent among these Germans with a sense of style. Today everyone is wearing sandals and flip-flops – and less and less ironed and woven leather shoes. And the whole world is buying these shoes less and less from the retailers that Uuetzer has been making available for decades.

“He was the papa of the German shoe,” says Manfred Mossig, who has owned a fashion boutique in Bad Soden with “M&W Mode” for more than 43 years and who knew the shoe pioneer from his time as a retailer. “I am a migrant worker,” Uuetzer once said of himself in an interview with this newspaper in Fossò, a cup of espresso and a biscotto in his other hand. At that time he was in the best of spirits, though he was moving again, towards Gatwick, to his family or more specifically. With his leather soles, he never lost his grip on the ground. Fritz Aunotzer passed away last Friday at the age of 76 after a serious illness.