Type GmbH Founder Hans Mayr Headquarters Munich, Germany | Genre shoemaking company Website Ed Meier Founded 1596 | |
 | ||
Products jet set shoes, clothes, leather goods and accessories Owner Peter Eduard and Brigitte Meier | ||
Ed Meier respectively the Eduard Meier GmbH was founded in Munich in 1596 and is the oldest existing shoemaking company of Germany.
History
The company founded by Hans Mayr is mentioned for the first time in 1596. Mayr was delivering his shoes particularly to people of the upper class. The company was purveyor to the Saxon royal house, the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and since 1895 also to the Bavarian royal house (->Royal Warrant).
It was possible to get customized shoes "for every occasion and usage" by mail order. Therefore, Mayr made wooden replicas of the customer's feet and stored them for minimum 30 years. Afterwards the customers could choose their shoe models by dint of an illustrated catalog.
At the beginning of the 20th century Wilhelm Eduard Meier expanded the offering with ready-made high-quality shoes. After World War II the company was rebuilt from ruins by Eduard Meier II who got the company from his father. To maximize accuracy of fit Meier used a pedoscope to see feet inside shoes. The result of his examinations were his patent-registered "Peduform" shoes.
Today the company is led by the siblings Peter Eduard and Brigitte Meier (13th generation). Besides shoes, the offering includes sports and classic clothing, leather goods and accessories. In the city of Munich it is possible to be get them delivered by a horse-drawn carriage as in former times.