Munich is today a recognized brand of sports footwear and something more: it manufactures bags, accessories and has a positioning that in marketing is known as a lifestyle (lifestyle) and accelerated growth that has led it to exceed 81 million euros in 2023. This same Munich is also a third-generation business, which has grown between Baix Llobregat and Anoia, which has passed from grandparents to children and grandchildren, and which has experienced all the vicissitudes typical of family businesses, also worthy of a soap opera script.Currently, Munich is above all the brand and the company that Xavier Berneda (1971), grandson of the founder, CEO and main shareholder, has driven."I consider myself a shoemaker: I was a bad student and my father me punishedsending me to work with rubber in Alicante and tanned leather in Igualada." Xavier started working at 17, "before having a driver's license." But even as a child, he spent summers at the family's shoe factory, in Vilanova d'Espolla or before that in Sant Boi, where his grandfather had started manufacturing leather sports shoes in 1939. At 23, in the early 90s, Xavier traveled to Korea and China to find manufacturers; his father and uncle had never left Capellades. "Nobody knew me, neither here nor in China. But you earn your place by demonstrating: the company makes a better product, a better margin, and then they let you do it. I was a runaway thoroughbred, but they let me do it and I did it well." Thirty years later, Xavier Berneda has lost none of his energy and determination. But the evolution of the business (which in 2000 declared sales of 3 million and now, let's remember, claims to exceed 80) indicates that he has known how to combine so much passion with the necessary dose of common sense.
"This company has only worked with stress models," says Berneda. They have been manufacturing sports products in Asia for years to be competitive, but in Anoia they had a factory and "we had to decide what we would do here that would add value, look for a productive model that would sustain the company." That's how they entered the world of fashion. "Sometimes you have the business in front of you and you don't see it," Berneda said in an interview years ago. "This was a country of white labels, and it still is, look at Inditex. But in the early 2000s we started consuming brands..." Around that time, Munich entered shoe stores with an agreement with Vialis. He found a great partner in an Italian distributor who positioned him as a fashion product. And they were also pioneers in e-commerce, being a key ally of Privalia. "Customers got very angry, but should I have waited for others to do it? I set my company's strategy; customers should not dictate the rules of the game. We have known how to coexist with online, we are respectful of prices."They bet heavily on opening their own stores, a strategy they maintain and reinforce.
"I have come here to enjoy myself," also making it clear that: "I never lose money, I can't; the company is there to make money from day one."
Another vision Berneda had was to bet on nostalgia and identity: "Barrufet played with Munich, Michel in Madrid wore Munich: we recovered that history, we tell things that are true."The adventure continues: a few years ago they created Duuo, a brand "with which we make shoes that we could never make with Munich."They also launched the projectMunich second lifeYou send us a shoe and we completely remake it for 25 euros. We have to talk about the origins, about being shoemakers, and our productive model must be sustained by manufacturing shoes." Another example: "We make shoes with used paraglider sails. It's expensive, you have to wash the material... But it positions us: How much would it cost to sell the image that we are a company that recycles?" All these strategies reflect Xavier Berneda's character and leadership. Trial and error. He knows as much or more about marketing than about making shoes. "Brands have feelings... many are reborn, deep down we are all very romantic." And he adds: "I came here to enjoy myself," also making it clear that: "I never lose money, I can't; the company is there to make money from day one." A philosophy offun & profitthat recalls that German fashion fair, Bread & butter, which triumphed in Barcelona before moving to Berlin and imploding to death.
The commitment to theretailor the strategy followed during COVID, negotiating with suppliers, also bear his stamp: "When there is someone in a company who makes decisions, that makes a difference. We can be faster, better, and with more margin."Or as a collaborator says: "The luck is that there is one person who decides; one decides and the others work."Berneda continues to visit all suppliers in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Myanmar once a year: "To greet them and shake their hands." In the beginning, the company was run by the grandfather, father, and uncle, "coexisting or surviving... that's the doubt I have"; the mother and sister had sports stores in Sant Boi. Along the way, his cousins appeared, there were moments of tension, and Xavier even left the company.Finally, the current Munich is a new company controlled by Xavier and his brother David.The fourth generation, led by David Berneda (Xavier's eldest son), is already working in the company, following his father's initial steps: "And I've already fired him three times from the company," he says, laughing, while his son nods and continues working.
"When I started, I was the youngest in the sports employers' association... And suddenly I'm the oldest. And I didn't even realize it!"
"I entrusted the B-Corp certification process to my son: sustainability must allow him to enjoy the company 30 years from now. The consumer has changed, and so has what they expect from a brand. We have to make a move! How many strategic errors towards customers have we seen, like Blockbuster versus Netflix?". His daughters are studying and also collaborate at Munich: "They have more obligations than a normal employee; if they don't understand it now, they will." "When I started, I was the youngest in the sports employers' association... And suddenly I'm the oldest. And I didn't even realize it!", he reflects. "Manel Adell (former CEO of Desigual) used to say: one day you know all the employees and their families, and suddenly you don't know anyone. Now it's happening to me: we are 400!". He also remembers that you can learn every day, from anyone. Like when he discovered that in Munich they assembled shoes backward: "We assembled the heel and then the toe: in China and the rest of the world they started with the toe. I learned it there, we changed it and improved: you can learn from everyone." Berneda shares his knowledge as an advisor in some companies.And learn from other entrepreneurs, because "we all have similar problems."He also learns "from my brother, from my father and from all the people in Munich who have accompanied me on this journey. My hyperventilation doesn't help much to solve problems... but when the problem is very serious, I don't hyperventilate, I stay calm." "I don't know what the future will be like... Sometimes I think one thing, then I change my mind... This is not a monarchy. Very good professionals have joined the company. My children will surely be owners, but the world turns many times. I don't plan to retire, nor do I know if they will want to lead the project. They have to be happy, and I don't know if this is the best for them."
He speaks fast, seems disorganized, but knows what he's saying."I have made three important mistakes in life: one was not investing in Glovo; another, not having invested in the production company ofCrims. And the third... I won't tell you about it." Instead, he admits that he has made money in the stock market by investing in the competition (the two major global sports brands, one American and one German, are also his competition): "There are mammoth brands that survive, it's very hard to become one of these mammoths. During COVID, the shares went up a lot; I told my friends and they didn't listen to me." Xavier Berneda doesn't mind admitting that he cried watching the movie The 47, nor explain that he feeds his own TikTok profile with cooking videos.And he always flies high: since 1992 he has been a paragliding pilot, instructor, and examiner."Now I just compete," he says. "Up there you're alone. I talk a lot, but when I'm flying I don't talk. I'm calm, in my world. Paragliding puts you in your place: at 4,000 meters, or at home watching from TV, or in the hospital."
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