Sports fashion producer dies, aged 80
19/11/2009
German apparel producer, Klaus Steilmann, who worked with Karl Lagerfeld to manufacture the designer's sports fashion collection, has died aged 80 after a protracted illness.
Working with the motto 'fashion for millions, not for millionaires', Steilmann's company produced clothes for brands such as Peek & Cloppenburg, Kaufhof and Marks & Spencer, among others, Women's Wear Daily reports.
Despite generating sales of totalling billions and employing over 18,000 people in 1991, the Steilmann group gradually suffered setbacks and was rescued from bankruptcy by Miro Radici AG in 2006.
Aside from an interest in the fashion industry, Steilmann was a keen football supporter and, since 1999, a member of the Club of Rome.
In 1990, Steilmann became interested in promoting ecological and environmental issues through clothing and founded the Klaus Steilmann Institute for Innovation and Environment.
He was later awarded the German Environment Award, as well as other honours including the German Federal Cross of Merit.
