OUR CENTURY OLD, HISTORY RICH, STORY IS ONE OF THE LONGEST IN HISTORY OF THE FUR INDUSTRY
Fischers Furs started with Karl Fischer in 1910 in Germany.
Karl was an orphaned boy who from the age of 6 years old, often a street dweller, had been pushed and shoved in and out of orphanages and had no one really, to reach out to and very little to call home. At the tender age of just 10 years old, Karl got his first real break in life when a local fur manufacturing business offered him an apprenticeship as a furrier in Germany.
The Fur factory became the little boys, new home where he would sleep,eat,live,learn and hold onto the opportunity of a lifetime and who then would have ever thought at that time, that this opportunity would architect the future for the Fischer Furs future generations for over a century thereafter and spread across continents.
KARL’S FURRIER BUSINESS
In the early 1930s, Karl started his own furrier business. Under the same roof, his wife Annie who was an “Overmaster” designer, seamstress, who manufactured with her team, of the finest handmade bespoke evening and wedding dresses in Germany.
Karl and Annie Fischer, raised three children of their own.
ERICH’S APPRENTICESHIP
The youngest of which was their son, Erich Friedrich Fischer, who followed in his father’s footsteps and started his apprenticeship in 1957.
Erich qualified as a furrier in 1960 and escaped from the then East Germany by foot with only the clothes on his body, at the vulnerable age of 16, where he left his family behind.
FRANKFURT’S TOP MANUFACTURING FURRIERS
Surviving the life threatening escape to the West of Germany, Erich started working at one of Frankfurt’s top manufacturing furriers for approximately two years. Thereafter, he was invited to manage and run one of the most prestigious Fur houses in Zurich. At that time, an exceedingly, prestigious Furrier businesses in South Africa, were focused on retrieving the best young Furriers from Europe.
ERICH MOVED TO SOUTH AFRICA
Erich was one such tradesman who was invited to offer his superb craftsmanship in South Africa in 1964.
Shortly after arriving in South Africa, Erich fell in love with the country and realised that South Africa was going to be his happy anchor for the rest of his life.
GOLD MEDAL WINNING TEAM
He offered and practiced his Master skills for the then two top fur businesses in Johannesburg until later in 1974, The Fischer Fur business continued independently in South Africa. Named then Erich Fischer Furriers.
Robert, one of Erich’s sons, decided to join his father’s business as he had a love and a passion for the trade from a very young age. After school and military service, Robert left for Germany to take up an apprenticeship with one of the most renowned furrier families in Cologne, Germany, where he qualified with distinctions in both his theoretical and practical in addition to this finished off the top qualifier in his region of Germany
ROBERT FISCHER BECAME THE DRIVING FORCE
Since his return in 1994, Robert became the driving force and the next generation of the Fischer Furs history.
Fischer Furs, is now the new official, name of the business, the name which honours itself to three generations of Specialist Furriers and known to many very satisfied customers, in South Africa and globally as the “absolute best Furriers”.
“I am absolutely honoured and humbled that my family has spent 114 years to date (2024 ) among the elite manufacturing furriers in the world.”