Stretch five-pocket trousers and golf pants are the focus at Alberto, the Mönchengladbach trouser business. Berlin's GmbH takes a different approach through PVC trousers and leather jackets, using deadstock materials from Milan. Hiltl began making trousers in Sulzbach-Rosenberg in 1955, under tailor Fritz Hiltl and his wife Hedwig. The Bavarian business grew from around twenty pairs a day to a factory employing 370 people by 1980.
Trouser-only sub-line of the German brand Brax (trousers since 1950, parent company founded in Berlin in 1888), on the market since 1995 with an ergonomic 'Perfect Cut' sizing system built for a range of body types, including plus sizes.
Best for Trousers, casual; Premium trousers
Eurex by Brax is a trousers-only line within the German company Brax, whose roots go back to 1888, when Bernward Leineweber opened a clothing business in Berlin. Brax itself, as a dedicated trousers brand marketed under the slogan 'the trousers of progress,' launched in 1950. Eurex was introduced in 1995 as a specialist offering built around a proprietary 'Perfect Cut' pattern system, engineered to fit a wider range of body shapes - including larger sizes - than a standard trouser block. The line covers chinos, jeans and dress trousers, and is stocked both through Brax's own retail channels and specialist plus-size menswear retailers such as Hirmer big & tall.
Berlin collaborative brand born from the dance floor — deadstock materials from Milan, tight jerseys, PVC pants, and bulky leather jackets. Resistance through fashion.
German casual-wear since 1977, its look borrowed from the off-road expeditions the brand was tied to. Cologne in origin, now made and licensed through Seidensticker's CMLC division in Bielefeld, and sold in more than fifty countries.
Best for Casual jackets knitwear and weekend trousers
Camel Active traces its identity to 1977, when technical outfitting developed for participants in the Kamel Trophy off-road expedition became the basis for a menswear leisurewear line built around desert-boot and utility styling. The brand originated from Cologne, Germany, and expanded its range over the following decade, adding watches in 1986 and bags in 1989. Ownership changed in 2001, when the German shirt manufacturer Seidensticker, based in Bielefeld, acquired the Camel Active license and now operates it through its subsidiary CMLC GmbH. By 2017, reporting put the brand's footprint at more than 11,000 points of sale across over 50 countries, with annual sales cited around 600 million euros. Camel Active today functions as a wholesale and e-commerce casualwear brand rather than a single boutique.
German trouser specialist founded in 1960 in the Bergisches Land region near Cologne. Trousers are manufactured at the company's own facility in Targu Secuiesc, Romania, using organic and Fairtrade-certified cotton since converting fully to organic cotton in 2020.
Best for Trousers, quality; Trousers, Chinos
Meyer-Hosen AG is a German family-owned company founded in 1960 with roots in the Bergisches Land area near Cologne, describing itself as Europe's leading specialist in men's trousers. Since the 1990s its production has been based at its own facility in Targu Secuiesc, in the Covasna region of Transylvania, Romania. Meyer has moved its cotton sourcing toward sustainability commitments: in 2020 it switched entirely to organic cotton, and trousers made with Fairtrade-certified cotton carry the Fairtrade Cotton Mark. The trade publication TextilWirtschaft named Meyer its 'Top Brand' for men's trousers in the sustainability category in 2021.
Mönchengladbach trouser specialist Alberto is built around stretch five-pocket styles and golf trousers. German fit engineering defines the range, with the cut and movement of the trousers carrying more weight than seasonal fashion theatre.
Monchengladbach trouser house founded 1920 by Dieter Janssen; created the Gardeur brand in 1969, Germany's first dedicated trouser label. Added a women's line in 1981 and now also makes the premium g1920 collection.
Best for Precise German trousers with Mönchengladbach heritage dating to 1920.
Gardeur traces back to 1920, when Dieter Janssen founded a family clothing business, Dieter Janssen and Co., in Monchengladbach, a German textile town later famous as a garment-manufacturing center. The company specialized in men's trousers from 1959, and in 1969 it launched the Gardeur name itself - by most accounts the first branded trouser label in Germany. A women's range, Gardeur femme, followed in 1981. Gardeur began manufacturing abroad early, opening a production facility in Tunisia in 1974, and today describes over a century of trouser-making experience. Since 2017 the company has been part of the Dutch Duijndam Group. Its current lineup includes a premium sub-line, g1920.
German ready-to-wear label founded 1973 in Halle, Westphalia by Gerhard Weber and Udo Hardieck as Hatex KG; grew from women's trousers into a full fashion house sold in over 60 countries.
Best for Quality clothing
Gerry Weber traces to March 1973, when Gerhard Weber and Udo Hardieck founded Hatex KG in Halle, Westphalia. The company began by producing women's trousers, adding skirts by 1975, the same year the Gerry Weber brand name was created. That year Hatex also signed a sponsorship deal with a young Steffi Graf. In 1989 the company formally renamed itself Gerry Weber, went public, and launched a second label, expanding into one of Germany's largest fashion groups, with sales structures today in more than 60 countries. The Halle headquarters remains the group's home base.
German trouser manufactory founded 1955 by master tailor Fritz Hiltl and his wife Hedwig in Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Bavaria; grew from around 20 pairs of trousers a day to a factory employing 370 people by 1980.
Best for Precisely finished German men's trousers
Hiltl was founded in 1955 in Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Bavaria, by master tailor Fritz Hiltl together with his wife Hedwig and, in support, his brother Erhard and six apprentices. Output began small, around 20 pairs a day, but grew after Fritz Hiltl's first collection impressed trade buyers at Cologne Men's Fashion Week. A new, more modern factory opened on Asamstrasse in Sulzbach-Rosenberg in October 1968, and by 1980 the company employed 370 people producing roughly 2,000 pairs of trousers daily. After Fritz Hiltl's death in 1994, Hedwig Hiltl led the company's push into markets beyond Europe. Nord Holding acquired the company in 2016; it was renamed HILTL Hosen-Manufaktur GmbH in 2020.
German trouser and denim specialist founded 1973 in Wald/Rossbach near Regensburg by Max Gansbuhler; family-run, sells over 6 million pairs of men's and women's trousers annually.
Best for Precision-fit jeans
MAC Jeans was founded in 1973 in the small Upper Palatinate community of Wald/Rossbach, near Regensburg, Bavaria, by Max Gansbuhler. What started as a specialist trouser maker grew into one of Europe's leading denim and trouser manufacturers, now moving more than six million pairs of men's and women's trousers per year. The company remains headquartered at the same Rossbach site, with roughly 330 employees, and has stayed a family business focused narrowly on fit: its product range is built around dozens of cuts across jeans, chinos, dress trousers, shorts and capris. The brand has run collaborations, including with Brigitte magazine and rally driver Walter Rohrl.
German workwear label founded in 1919 by Adolf Ahlers in Jever; expanded into denim as Pioneer Authentic Jeans in 1970, now made and distributed by the Ahlers Group in Herford, Germany.
Best for Men’s jeans and trousers
Pioneer traces back to a cloth-trading company Adolf Ahlers founded in Jever, Germany, in 1919, which relocated to Oldenburg in 1925 and then to Herford in 1932, opening its first production facility in 1936. The company began making workwear under the Pionier name starting in 1942, formalized as Pionier Workwear from 1971. In 1970 Ahlers extended the label into denim with Pioneer Authentic Jeans, drawing on the workwear line's rugged construction and cut. A higher-priced Pionier Jeans & Casuals line followed in 1977. All three lines are still produced and distributed today by the Ahlers Group, a Herford-based clothing company that also holds the Pierre Cardin and Otto Kern licenses in Germany.
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