C&A – a success story
An idea wins through.

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
It all started in Mettingen.

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.

I heard about people buying clothes from there and then cutting off the labels so no one knew they were from C&A.

Reminds me of a joke from a couple of decades ago:

Q. Why do blondes buy their underwear from C&A?

A. So they never put them on back to front.

Lol. I remember being dragged around clothes shops as a kid. What's QS?

I remember when my home town had a C&A. It was quite a large store as well.