Founded in Basel in 1984, the fashion chain Tally Weijl, which operated around 800 stores in around 39 countries in its heyday, needed fresh capital due to the slump in business following the pandemic. In the meantime, the number of stores was reduced by 350 and the focus was placed on the DACH region and Italy.
Co-founder Beat Grüring sold his shares – Convergenta now owns four million registered shares in the company. “Since the end of the year, the German Convergenta Invest GmbH, the investment company of the Media Markt founding family Kellerhals, has been the majority owner and controlling shareholder of Tally Weijl with a stake of over two thirds,” confirmed Grüring in a press release.
The name of the company is derived from the co-founder Ravital (“Tally”) Tally Elfassi-Weijl. The company started in 1984 with “just in time” fashion; collections were delivered within two to four weeks. This new business model was extremely successful and the company opened its own stores shortly afterwards. By 2000, the company already had over 50 stores throughout Europe. Expansion continued apace, with around 100 stores opening each year. From then on, the online market was also developed – today the company has 14 online stores and around 3000 employees.
