1922 – 1925
The Founding Phase: LANZ on the Road to International Fame
The LANZ annals go back to the year 1922. Almost coinciding with the advent of the Salzburg Festival, two mountaineering friends Josef LANZ and Fritz Mahler set up a sports retail shop in Salzburg City Center where, in addition to a wide variety of sports goods, they also sold Austrian traditional costume.
The original aim was to bring traditional rural clothing „to town” as it were. The range extended from „Höttl” material from Saalfelden to a Henndorf janker-style cardigan and encountered a ready market, being bought up above all by guests arriving from abroad to attend the Salzburg International Festival.
1925 – 1945
The Founding Phase: LANZ on the Road to International Fame
In 1925 Fritz Mahler decided to leave the enterprise but Josef LANZ had other ideas in mind and resolved to expand the business. During the years that followed he established his own workshops including a saddler`s workshop, shoemaker`s shop and tailoring business. In the course of time he brought the characteristic LANZ style to the point of perfection, combining country traditions with classical flair. This combination unleashed enthusiasm on the part of international festival-goers and local in-store clientele alike.
In the mid 1930s Josef LANZ left other members of the family to run the business and emigrated to America where he set um new firms, initially in New York followed by a store in Los Angeles. Thus, a veritable fashion empire emerged in next to no time. The new stores bore the same distinctive emblem as the Salzburg enterprise. This hallmark soon became known as the „Lanz Heart”.
Just before the outbreak of World War 2, the headquarters in Salzburg´s Imbergstrasse and the main store in Schwarz-strasse 4 were purchased and a branch establishment opened up in Vienna. Notwithstanding the chaos that prevailed during the war, the enterprise managed to survive the ordeal unscathed.
1945 – 1958
Worldwide Acclaim: Trading in Grand Style
In the aftermath of war LANZ began to specialize in the marketing of traditional Austrian costume collections at wholesale level, responding to the requirements of top leading fashion stores established in Europe and the US.
The results were overwhelming:
The LANZ style encountered success after success throughout the whole world, not least due to the fact that Austrian clothing was meanwhile being worn by countless numbers of prominent personalities.
1958 – 1992
Worldwide Acclaim: Trading in Grand Style
This qualified the Salzburg based costume stylist for remarkable international fame.
In 1958 a branch was opened in the holiday resort of St. Gilgen. This was intended to consolidate the close relations maintained by LANZ to the „Salzkammergut” area and the local traditions preserved there.
After all, the traditional costume wear stemming from this picturesque region has always been the backbone of the global success achieved by LANZ, success designated to prosper.
1992 – Heute
LANZ Business Achievements: A Never-Ending Story of Success
In 1992, Willi and Nikolaus LANZ took over the reins of management.
Two years later they decided to set up yet another branch in Salzburg´s Kranzlmarkt/ Getreidegasse. New chapters in the illustrious history of this family-run enterprise are forever being written as LANZ original costumes still continue to be handcrafted in the company´s own workshops by local master-tailors fashioning materials made exclusively for LANZ:
Nimble fingers are constantly to be found ringing new changes and working new variations into this basic folk-style craft. This is where tradition and manual skills proceed hand in hand with innovative ideas a vital criterion contributing to the outstanding reputation enjoyed by LANZ.
This is evidenced by the fact that two new collections are presented every year which never fail to encounter excitement all over the globe.
