The Munich entrepreneur Fritz Unutzer was a pioneer of timeless elegance. He had had bicycles with electric motors built three decades ago – and was thus far ahead of his time. But his main business was luxury fashion. The handmade leather shoes from his factory in Italy, in Fossò, a small town near Venice, still stand for classic design in the high fashion sector, they have had a lasting impact on the German fashion world and have been able to compete with international luxury brands. The shoes were worn in Hollywood at the Oscars and on the catwalks in New York. Uutile has traveled the world and was rooted in Munich.
Uutile commuted a lot, often in a week between his office near Maximilianstrasse to the manufactory in northern Italy and southern England, where his family lived. The father of five children had an eventful life, but always remained down to earth. He biked to appointments around town, wore pocket handkerchiefs, appreciated good wine and enrolled at university for a senior course in religious studies and philosophy.
He was born in Munich in 1947, into the world of fashion. His father, a cousin of Willy Bogner, ran a boutique on Maximilianstraße and sold luxury brands such as Burberry cashmere sweaters and handmade shoes from Great Britain. After a traineeship in the design department at Burberry, he trained at the renowned and famous bespoke shoemakers, Church’s in Northamton and John Lobb in London. With a master’s degree in economics from the private elite university Insead in France, Uuetzer returned to Munich with the plan to experience a bit of the swinging London of the 1960s, shaped by Twiggy and the beatles, to bring. Together with his brother Peter he opened the shop “The English House” right next to his father’s shop.
Uutile found out about the shoe factory with 30 employees in Venetia by chance and bought it in 1989. His passion for shoes never left him. He was fascinated by how men’s shoes are transformed into elegant designs with filigree elements and feminine details. In Italy he launched his own collection of flat shoes. The first models were ballerinas made by hand in 104 steps. He had them made in different colors and they were worn by high society in the mid-1990s. But the colorful ballerinas were just the beginning. In his shoe factory, Uutiler made around 200 different models and 50,000 pieces every year, from loafers to high heels, from pumps to boots. But for the entrepreneur, the focus was not only on elegance, but the shoes should also be wearable, and even more, they should be comfortable. With this claim, too, Uutile was a pioneer, and to this day there is no other shoe label from Germany that can keep up with Jimmy Choo.
Fritz Unutzer died last Friday at the age of 76 after a serious illness.