Why it belongs in ORBIS
German women's footwear brand founded in 1919 by Pius Gabor in Gross-Strehlitz (then Germany, now Poland); rebuilt post-war by sons Bernhard and Joachim Gabor from 1949, adopting the American 'California' shoe-construction method. Headquartered in Rosenheim, Bavaria, since 1966.
Gabor's history began in 1919, when Pius Gabor opened a shoe and leather-goods shop in Gross-Strehlitz, then Upper Silesia, Germany (now Strzelce Opolskie, Poland). Pius and his wife did not survive the Second World War; their sons Bernhard and Joachim Gabor restarted the business afterward, founding 'B. and J. Gabor Damenschuhfabrik' in Barmstedt near Hamburg in 1949. Bernhard had studied the 'California' shoe-construction method used in the United States, and the brothers built their comfort-shoe business around it, opening their own factory in 1952. The company relocated its base to Rosenheim, Bavaria, in 1966, which remains its headquarters today.