Falke, from 1895 to today: the story of the German hosiery brand

In the Sauerland, the hilly corner of Westphalia where winters are long and snowy, roofs did not get mended for months at a time in the late 19th century. Franz Falke-Rohen, a roofer and day labourer, spent those months in Schmallenberg's knitting workshops. In May 1895 he struck out on his own. A hundred and thirty years later his business turns over €285 million, sells in more than 60 countries, is headquartered in the factory it built in 1920, and is still run by the same family. Few hosiery brands can claim that kind of stubborn continuity, and fewer still came through every upheaval of Germany's 20th century without leaving the town where they began.

A roofer in the Sauerland

The story is set out in detail by Westfalen Regional, the regional portal of the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe. Falke-Rohen had learned the trade in one of the town's many knitting shops before opening his own. From 1906 he produced under his own name for the first time and, with his son Franz Falke Jr., built step by step one of the largest firms in the Hochsauerland, still the biggest industrial employer in Schmallenberg.

Shortly after the First World War came the purchase of the Meisenburg wool and hair-yarn spinning mill, also in Schmallenberg: the first move towards controlling raw materials. In 1920 the family built a modern factory with new sock-knitting machines, which remains the group's headquarters. By 1928 Falke employed 800 people, with contract workshops as far away as Thuringia drawn into production.

The 20th century: a dark chapter and a new logo

In 1939, under the Nazi regime, Falke acquired the long-established knitwear factory of the Jewish entrepreneur Salomon Stern, which today trades as Falke Fashion. The regional portal records it without comment; an honest history of the brand cannot leave it out.

Immediately after the war the Falke word-and-image logo was designed, first used on hosiery and registered in 1950. From 1951, according to FashionUnited, the third generation, Paul and Franz-Otto Falke, took charge; Paul also served for many years as mayor of Schmallenberg. In 1958 the takeover of the Uhli hosiery works in Lippstadt brought the company into fine stockings and tights: Falke's real entry into women's legwear.

From grey socks to fashion

For decades Falke's reputation rested on men's socks, and the company worked hard to shake off that image. The regional portal describes advertising campaigns shot by star fashion photographers, designed to banish the homely image of grey socks. The 1970s brought licensing deals with fashion houses: FashionUnited names Armani, Lagerfeld and Christian Dior, while the German magazine WOLL lists Armani, Boss and Joop. The names vary by source, but the point holds: a technical manufacturer learning to work in the service of other people's style.

It went international early, too: from 1974 it set up foreign subsidiaries, in Austria and Portugal for example, and a plant in South Africa. By 1975, according to WOLL, Falke turned over 180 million Deutschmarks with 3,500 staff. Then the focus sharpened. Womenswear knitwear, made for some twenty years, was dropped in 1985. In 1990 cousins Paul Falke and Franz-Peter Falke took over as the fourth generation, as the official site confirms. In 1992 the first flagship store opened in Cologne. In 1997 Falke bought the Leinefelder Textilwerke, once an East German industrial showpiece, securing its own supply of specialist yarns for more than a decade before selling it in 2010. And in 2008 it acquired the rights to the Burlington brand for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Australia and South America.

The science of the sock

Falke's least-known side is its engineering. The Ergonomic Sport System (ESS), its sports line, launched in 1996 according to the US ski instructors' association PSIA-AASI, a brand partner. The core idea is both simple and radical: a sock with a left and a right toe box, longer on the inside of the foot and shorter on the outside, as British retailer Snow+Rock explains, adding that the socks are developed and tested with the Austrian and German alpine ski teams. From 2005, the regional portal notes, Falke became a full supplier of functional sportswear, working with the German Sport University in Cologne. In 2007 it was the only textile company to win the Federal Republic of Germany's Design Award, for a sports jumper.

The same obsession with fit, compression and durability runs from ski socks to sheer tights. Hence Hello! Magazine's remark, in its guide to luxury hosiery brands, that it is no wonder Falke knows the world of quality tights so well.

Falke today: figures, factories, sustainability

In April 2026 a FashionUnited interview with managing partner Franz-Peter Falke gave a snapshot of the group: almost 2,900 employees, 2024 sales of €285 million, 48% of them abroad, and a presence in more than 60 countries. It is run by Franz-Peter, his cousin Paul Falke and chief executive Martin Winkler, who joined in 2017, and the fifth generation of the family already works in the business. Overall control, "from yarn to finished product", stays in Schmallenberg. On tariffs, he did not mince his words:

Yes, we face challenges with tariffs that are economically damaging to us. — Franz-Peter Falke, to FashionUnited

The brand signs itself "Germany 1895", and in 2023 the Marketing Club Südwestfalen honoured it as one of the region's few consumer brands with a worldwide reputation, FashionNetwork reported. Its production map covers Germany, Serbia, Slovakia and South Africa. In Leskovac, Serbia, Falke opened in 2012 what the regional portal called one of the most modern knitting factories in the world, investing more than €10 million with planned capacity of up to 15 million pairs a year, in line with the company's stated aim of producing as close as possible to its markets.

On sustainability, the programme is called Falke We Care. According to a 2021 company statement, around 90% of its legwear is made in its own factories in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, audited by in-house staff and independent institutes for working conditions, fair pay and safety; wool suppliers must prove they do not practise mulesing, and its angora carries the Caregora certification.

How to choose a pair of Falke tights

If this is your first purchase from the brand, a few practical pointers:

• Start with a neutral sheer or semi-opaque. It is the easiest way to judge fit, waistband comfort and durability, the areas where a hosiery brand earns or loses its reputation.
• Read the composition. Elastane percentage, any natural fibres and reinforced toe and heel tell you more than the price.
• Consider the sports line for city wear. If you walk a lot, left-and-right socks make more sense than they sound.
• Look after them. Hand wash or use a laundry bag at a low temperature, and never tumble dry: good tights only last longer if you let them.

Writing around 2013, the regional portal noted that Germany's hosiery industry once counted 130 firms and that fewer than two dozen survived, with Falke at the top thanks to a premium strategy that let it charge up to five times as much as Asian competitors. That is the neatest summary of this story. In an industry that offshored almost everything, Falke bet that people would pay more for a better-made sock. A hundred and thirty years on, the 1920 factory is still standing to prove the point.