What Leder & Schuh does

Leder & Schuh, operating under the consumer-facing brand HUMANIC, is a 150+ year old Austrian footwear company headquartered in Graz and self-described as one of Europe's largest shoe retailers. Founded in 1872 originally as a shoe manufacturer with strong presence across the former Austrian-Hungarian empire, the company has evolved into a multi-brand multi-channel footwear retailer. It operates physical retail stores across 9 Central and Eastern European countries — Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia — alongside e-commerce online shops in five of those markets (Austria, Germany, Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia). The assortment spans casual sneakers, elegant high heels, and outdoor shoes for women, men, and children, drawn from various international footwear brands.

The business model is direct-to-consumer retail of third-party brands: HUMANIC carries and resells footwear under its own retail banner rather than selling proprietary manufactured product. Revenue is generated through one-time transactional sales both in-store and online, with no disclosed subscription, licensing, or recurring revenue component. Customer engagement is supported by the HUMANIC Customer Club loyalty program and email newsletter marketing, plus a public storefinder tool. The company employs 1,001–5,000 people and operates from a Graz, Austria headquarters.

Underlying technology is conventional retail and e-commerce infrastructure — store locator, online shops, customer account/wishlist functionality, newsletter registration — with no proprietary platform, AI/ML, or patent portfolio disclosed. Distribution is dual-channel: physical retail storefronts (the primary channel) and own e-commerce sites. Customer concentration is diffuse, serving individual consumers across the mass-market price spectrum with no named B2B or enterprise accounts in the source data.

Name

Leder & Schuh

Legal name

Leder & Schuh

Website

https://lsag.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1872

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Leder & Schuh, operating as HUMANIC, is a 150+ year old Austrian footwear retailer selling multi-brand shoes for women, men, and children through physical stores in 9 Central and Eastern European countries and e-commerce shops in 5 markets.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Footwear Retail

NAICS

Shoe Retailers (45821), Footwear Manufacturing (3162)

SIC

Retail-Shoe Stores (5661)

akta.pro primary industry

Casual & Lifestyle Footwear (CRAAACAB)

Keywords

• Footwear retail
• Shoe retail stores
• Online shoe shopping
• Multi-brand footwear
• European shoe retailer

Headquarters

HQ city

Graz

HQ country

Austria

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Retail Shoe Sales: Revenue is generated through direct retail sales of footwear products to consumers via physical store locations across 9 countries and e-commerce online shops. The model is based on traditional product sales with no explicit subscription or recurring revenue components mentioned.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

LEDER & SCHUH, operating as HUMANIC, is a multi-brand footwear retailer and long-standing shoe manufacturer that sells casual sneakers, elegant high heels, and outdoor shoes for women, men, and children from various international brands. The company sells through its own physical retail stores in 9 Central and Eastern European countries and through country-localized e-commerce online shops, supplementing purchases with a customer club loyalty program.

Product overview

HUMANIC is a footwear retail and manufacturing company operating since 1872, making it over 150 years old. The company offers a dual-channel distribution model consisting of an online e-commerce shop and physical retail stores across 9 Central Eastern European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia). The online platform and physical stores offer a wide selection of footwear from various international brands for women, men, and children, including casual sneakers, elegant high heels, and outdoor shoes. The company also operates a customer loyalty club for registered members.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• HUMANIC Online Shop Country-localized e-commerce storefronts selling a wide selection of footwear from various international brands for women, men, and children, including casual sneakers, elegant high heels, and outdoor shoes, with home delivery and ship-to-store options.
• Women's Footwear (Casual Sneakers, High Heels, Outdoor Shoes) Footwear assortment for women spanning casual sneakers, elegant high heels, and outdoor shoes from various international brands, sold through HUMANIC stores and online shops.
• Men's Footwear (Casual Sneakers, Outdoor Shoes) Footwear assortment for men, including casual sneakers and solid outdoor shoes from various international brands, sold through HUMANIC stores and online shops.
• Children's Footwear Footwear assortment for children from various international brands, sold through HUMANIC stores and online shops, enabling household shopping for the whole family.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Snipes: Snipes is a sneaker-and-streetwear-focused footwear retailer operating hundreds of stores across Europe including Austria and Germany, directly competing with HUMANIC in the casual/sneaker segment.
• Zalando: Zalando is Europe's leading online fashion and footwear platform operating across all of HUMANIC's countries. Directly competes for the same multi-brand footwear shopper through its marketplace and proprietary brand model.
• Deichmann: Deichmann is Europe's largest shoe retailer, operating multi-brand physical stores and e-commerce across 30+ countries including Austria, Germany, and CEE. Directly comparable as a multi-brand shoe retailer with overlapping geographies and assortment breadth.
• CCC (CCC.eu / Modivo): CCC is a major Polish-headquartered multi-brand footwear retailer with a pan-European store network including CEE markets, comparable in category focus and pricing-tier positioning to HUMANIC.
• Reno (Shoe Retail): Reno is a DACH-region multi-brand shoe retailer with bricks-and-mortar stores and online operations, directly comparable in assortment, target customer, and price tier.

Emerging players

• About You: About You is a Hamburg-based online fashion and shoe platform serving DACH and CEE; competes with HUMANIC's e-commerce shops through curated multi-brand assortment and strong digital customer experience.

Broad incumbents

• Foot Locker: Foot Locker is a global athletic-and-lifestyle footwear specialty retailer. Comparable as a category-focused footwear chain but with stronger athletic positioning and a different brand mix than HUMANIC.
• Kering (Ballet, Brioni footwear units): Owner of luxury and emerging footwear brands; overlaps with HUMANIC only where its portfolio brands appear as third-party brands on shelves, making it an adjacent incumbent rather than direct competitor.

Regional players

• Office Shoes (Office Holdings): Office is a UK-focused multi-brand shoe retailer; comparable assortment model but limited regional overlap with HUMANIC's CEE footprint.

Others

• Dsquared2 / Hugo Boss footwear divisions: Premium-fashion houses that supply branded footwear into the multi-brand channel (e.g. HUMANIC); included as ecosystem suppliers rather than direct peers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Leder & Schuh