Our roots

In 1943, Fritz Höhne and Hans Mischke jointly founded Höhne & Mischke in Bielefeld, a guild clothing company that initially specialised in guild trousers made of corduroy and English leather. Even today, the “Original Bielefelder Berufs- und Zunftbekleidung” is still a household name for many.

After about a year, Hans Mischke left the company and Fritz Höhne continued with his wife Käthe. She
took over the bookkeeping and Fritz did the rest. During this time, the company logo also changed and the letters F, H and B, which still exist today, were added: The new FHB brand was created from the three initial letters of Fritz Höhne from Bielefeld.

In the seventies, the company moved to the Spenge site and the second generation joined the company. Fritz’s daughter Margrit and her husband Bernd Hoffmann gradually took over the management of the company. FHB increasingly consolidated the brand’s position in the guild clothing market. Then as now, FHB only wanted one thing: the best quality without a lot of fuss.

1995 and 1996 were difficult years for FHB and the family. Käthe and Fritz Höhne died within a year, as did Bernd Hoffmann. Margrit was left alone. This heavy blow of fate brought the family closer together. Margrit asked her two nephews Peter and Bernd, the twins of the deceased’s brother, if they could help her with FHB.

Peter and Bernd had also grown up in a textile household. Their parents Doris and Walter Hoffmann, the brother of the late Bernd Hoffmann, ran a successful production company for shirts and blouses in Bielefeld. Nephew Bernd declined to become involved with FHB and Peter initially took a wait-and-see approach. He knew little about guilds and corduroy, but was enthusiastic about the guild trousers product. Peter recognised the enormous potential of guild trousers and the opportunity to expand the range.

In September 1996, Peter Hoffmann joined FHB and took over the management of FHB. The company was in good health, but in many ways tradition was stifling progress. Peter feared that Zunft (and therefore FHB) would no longer be sustainable in the near future. He therefore expanded the Zunft range and found a first production facility abroad, at the same time redesigning the company logo.

Peter Hoffmann bought FHB in 2003 and the company was renamed FHB original GmbH & Co KG. FHB grew to become the
market leader in the guild sector. To this day, Spenge is the first port of call for many journeymen and journeywomen who have their customised garments made. FHB is happy in this particular market niche. And yet FHB wanted more and decided to enter the much broader segment of “normal workwear”. In 2012, the time had come and the “Choose your colour” workwear range was born.

Today, FHB is also one of the leading companies in Germany in the world of workwear. What has always been the same: FHB is family-owned. Peter Hoffmann runs FHB, while his wife Sabine, a trained journalist, takes care of the texts in catalogues etc. Let’s wait and see whether
whether the fourth generation will also find a home at FHB. Peter’s Childs Tita and Anton have just started their respective studies …