HISTORY

In 1841, the brothers Clemens and August founded the textile shop C&A, which sold, unusually for that time, ready made clothes. The two brothers, peddlers originally from the small village Mettingen in Westphalia[1] traveled each year to Friesland to sell their textiles to the farmers. In 1861, they stocked their goods in a warehouse in Sneek.[1] This small town in the north of the Netherlands became the location of their first store.[2] A branch was opened in Leeuwarden, and in 1910 there were ten stores in the Netherlands. In 1911 the company opened the first German store in Berlin and today there are more than 400 stores in Germany. In 1922 the company started a store in Great Britain.[1] Today C&A and other related companies are located in 16 countries throughout the world. These companies are linked through the COFRA group, based in Zug, Switzerland. The company closed its stores in the United Kingdom and Denmark in 2000. Recently, many new countries have been entered in Eastern Europe and the company has also opened stores in China. More recently, the company has focused its efforts on real estate and financial services. C&A Online launched in Germany in 2008.

Headquarters

store in Berlin

store in Sneek (The Netherlands)

Key people

Lucas Brenninkmeijer

(Chairman & CEO)

Knut Bruggemann(Executive)

Thorsten Rolfes(Executive)

Products Specialty

C&A – good quality, good value and full of surprisesThe latest developments at C&A

HIG

HL

IGH

TS • Our customers can rely on us. They know that

at C&A they get quality fashion for all the family at great value-for-money prices. In addition to this, however, we aim to surprise our customers time and again with our special collections, campaigns and attractive offers. Find out about the latest developments in this section.

C&A's successful strategy

We accept responsibility in many areas

We seek to earn and retain the

trust of our stakeholders

by taking responsibility

in the following key

areas:

1.We offer our customers best value, safe,

quality products

.

2.We support and promote

the development of improved

working conditions in

our supply chain.

3.We act responsibly in

the communities

where we operate.

4.We actively encourage

public awareness of

important sustainability

issues.

5.We actively contribute,

where economically

feasible, to the protection

of the environment.

The seven key C&A values

Organic cotton – for you, for others and for the environment

One of the global market leaders for organic cotton.C&A is taking organic cotton out of the niche and into the mass market

C&A is also pleased to meet customers' increasing desire for ecological products. Since 2006, C&A has offered collections made from certified organic cotton,

thereby making a considerable contribution to the environment. Organic cotton is grown without the use of pesticides, artificial fertilisers or genetically modified

seed and this helps to restore ecological balance, promote sustainable agriculture and protect the health of cotton farmers and their families. In 2009, C&A sold about 12.5 million items of clothing made from organic cotton - roughly 10 per

cent of C&A's entire cotton range.

We intend to increase this percentage still further in the coming years. This makes C&A the world's leading supplier today of this type of clothing. Our

customers can be especially happy in the knowledge that organic cotton at C&A costs not a penny more than clothing made from conventionally grown cotton.

C&A – a success story

C&A – a success story

Nowadays C&A is part of the cityscape in many parts of Europe. About two million people frequent our branches every day. Yet many of them are unaware of the story that lies behind those two capital letters. This began as early as the 17th century when the forebears of the later company founders, Clemens and August Brenninkmeijer, whose initials still make up the company logo today, traded in linen and textiles across Europe. Two hundred years later, the two brothers continued the ancient family tradition selling fabrics, primarily in Germany and the Netherlands. It was they who founded their company in 1841 in Sneek, Friesland, giving it the name C&A Brenninkmeijer. It was here too that, 20 years later, they opened their first C&A store, marking the beginning of a success story that endures to this day.

From Westphalia to Europe

The two founding fathers had a business plan that was as simple as it was revolutionary for those times: they offered good quality, ready-to-wear clothing at affordable prices, introducing standard sizes as well as the customer-friendly option to exchange goods. In this way they set the benchmark in the fashion retail business. Good ideas win through and the number of branches in the Netherlands increased steadily. It was therefore an obvious next step that the heirs of Clemens & August would extend the successful model beyond the borders of Holland.

Thus in 1911 the family company opened the first store in Germany, in Berlin. Other stores were to follow later in England. The Second World War put expansion plans on hold. At the beginning of the 1960s, however, the company gained further footholds in Belgium, France and Switzerland. Today, C&A, still managed as a family company, is even represented in China, Brazil and Mexico. These affiliates operate independently of C&A Europe.

Thanks

Collect by

http://www.c-and-a.com/uk/en/corporate/company/about-us/history/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%26A

Prepare

S. M. Samsul Alam Summon