Luther cooperates with Northwest German Textile and Clothing Industry Association

Law firm Luther has been cooperating with the Northwest German Textile and Clothing Industry Association since January 1, 2018 – the largest national association of the German textile and clothing industry, representing more than a quarter of all companies in this sector.

Since December 2016, Luther has been cooperating with Südwesttextil as well – the trade and employers' association of the textile and clothing industry in Baden-Württemberg. This means that the large law firm will in future be advising member firms of both associations on branch-specific legal issues.

The Association of the Northwest German Textile and Clothing Industry e. V. headquartered in Munster, is an employer and trade association for around 260 companies in the textile and clothing industry in Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. The member companies employ around 28,000 people in Germany and generate sales of around EUR 6.2 billion.

The cooperation with Luther, which has now been launched, provides member firms of the association with access to the full range of national and international legal advice offered by the full-service law firm – from contract law, commercial and distribution law, corporate law, M&A, antitrust law to advice on real estate transactions and commercial tenancy law. In addition, Luther will offer members of the association training courses on practical legal questions.

Dr Walter Erasmy, General Manager of the Northwest German Textile and Clothing Industry Association, about the advantages of this cooperation:

“A major advantage for our companies is Luther's full-service approach and its nationwide presence. In addition, Luther has the advantage of having its own offices in important foreign markets. In the sector-specific know-how that is built up in the corresponding competence team at Luther, our medium-sized companies find very valuable help in the diverse and increasingly complex legal issues – not only in the event of a dispute, but also and especially in the run-up to the event, e. g. in the choice of legal form or drafting of contracts and in many other important matters.”

Dr Steffen Gaber, responsible partner in Luther's Competence Team “Textile and clothing industry”:

“Through our cooperation with Nordwesttextil, which we are very pleased about, we would like to accompany the textile and clothing companies through this exciting and increasingly complex time in a legally compliant manner. 2017 was not an easy year for the textile industry in Germany. The industry has seen several restructurings and insolvencies. The market environment is and remains difficult due to international competition and the influence of online trade. Nevertheless, it is evident that textile and clothing companies in Germany are successful, particularly by breaking new and innovative ground. This can be seen, for example, in the textile industry using technical textiles or in the apparel industry due to the increasing e-commerce business, which has now reached B2B level and is competing with the classic showrooms of retail agencies.

Our knowledge of the industry and our many years of experience in advising family-owned companies and medium-sized businesses will certainly help us in advising the association's members. Since Luther has offices in Germany at ten locations, we can advise the member companies of the association very quickly and directly on site."

About Luther's Competence Team “Textile and clothing industry”

Around 50 lawyers are part of Luther's "Textile and Clothing" competence team. They contribute their knowledge of branch-specific legal issues as well as general corporate legal issues - for example, when it comes to succession in family-owned companies or the accompaniment of shareholders' meetings for public limited companies.

You can find an overview of all consulting services provided by the competence team on the Luther website.

Website of the Association of the Northwest German Textile and Clothing Industry (Verband der Nordwestdeutschen Textil- und Bekleidungsindustrie e. V.):

http://www.textil-bekleidung.de