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From Small Mettingen to Shopping Windows and the B3 Trading Floor, C&A Survived Wars, Crises in Brazil, and a Governance Turnaround That Placed the Brand Among the Billion-Dollar Fashion Empires.
The story of C&A begins with linen peddlers crossing dirt roads in Europe and reaches a network that generates billions in Brazil. Between these two extremes, C&A stitched together rigid family tradition, international expansion, and the ability to reinvent itself in times of crisis.
Nothing in this trajectory was linear. C&A went through Europe’s darkest periods, faced stiff competition in Brazilian fashion retail, suffered from the pandemic and high interest rates, saw its shares drop to less than two reais, and, afterwards, took center stage in a governance turnaround that won back investors. The same C&A that started at fabric fairs is now also a case of transparency, independent board, and capital discipline.
The DNA of Peddlers That Became a Retail Method
Long before the illuminated windows, C&A’s story begins in Mettingen, a small German town of about 12,000 inhabitants. In 1671, members of the Brening Mayer family left the farm to join the Totten, peddlers who crossed the border on foot selling linen and fabrics in northern Holland.
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It was hard work, made of roads, risks, and little margin for error. These peddlers survived on discipline, family unity, and the famous trade secret, protecting routes and clients in tough times.
Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the route between Germany and Holland strengthened, and the Brening Mayer became known as sellers of fine linen, linking looms to important markets in the region.
This mercantile base was the foundation for the transition from solitary peddler to structured merchant. In the early 19th century, two young family members, Clemens and August, became apprentices in Mettingen.
They learned everything from buying fabrics to long journeys from fair to fair, accumulating a repertoire that would go far beyond the counter.
From the Linen Store to the Logic of Accessible Fashion at Scale
In 1841, Clemens and August decided to carve their own path. In the city of Sneek, in northern Holland, they opened a linen and cotton shop that would become the embryo of C&A.
The name C&A comes from the initials of Clemens and August, but it would eventually become a global synonym for accessible fashion.
Initially, the business was small and family-run, with the brothers living above the store and mainly serving local families and farmers. Gradually, the same discipline of peddlers became a method.
At the turn of the 19th century into the 20th, C&A consolidated a philosophy that would change the fashion industry. Ready-to-wear clothing, in various sizes, with fixed prices and lower margins to sell more.
Instead of exclusivity, C&A chose scale, standardization, and volume.
Two historical movements helped this logic. The sewing machine, a crucial invention for mass production, and the First Industrial Revolution, which increased workers’ income and diminished the appeal of buying rolls of fabric to sew at home.
By combining standardized processes, a simple return policy, and windows as a means of communication, C&A transformed the act of buying clothes into a modern and accessible experience, democratizing fashion even before the term became fashionable.
With the model validated, the brand crossed borders. In 1911, it arrived in Germany with a store in Berlin.
In 1922, it landed in London, on Oxford Street, solidifying C&A as a continental gear in fashion retail.
The Arrival of C&A in Brazil and the Birth of a Pop Phenomenon
In the 1970s, C&A decided to target a young and transforming continent. In August 1976, it opened its first store in Brazil, at the newly inaugurated Shopping Ibirapuera in São Paulo, marking the brand’s debut in Latin America.
The context was favorable. Since the opening of Shopping Iguatemi in 1966, shopping centers became a stage for urban consumption, with climate-controlled spaces and associated with the rising middle class. The economic miracle had created an audience with more income, more credit, and more willingness to consume.
C&A’s proposal fit precisely into this scenario. The self-service fashion model, with many options, competitive prices, and high turnover, matched a Brazil with high inflation and fast consumption.
In every new shopping center that emerged, it was almost expected to find a C&A as an anchor store, synonymous with movement and modernity.
In the 1980s, C&A consolidated its identity in the country. Spacious, well-lit stores organized by category islands, with little intervention from salespeople, created a lighter and more autonomous experience for customers.
Buying clothes ceased to be a heavy ritual and became something simple, quick, and even fun.
This message was boosted by advertising campaigns. The slogan “Abuse, Use” emerged, along with Sebastian, a charismatic dancer who became the face and soul of C&A. For nearly two decades, Sebastian starred in hundreds of commercials, helping transform C&A into a cultural phenomenon, not just a chain of stores. Fashion, music, and dance blended to make C&A a national pop symbol.
Rivalry with Renner and Riachuelo and the Consolidation of C&A as the Industry Standard
All success attracts competition. In the 1990s, Renner and Riachuelo entered the fray for the territory of accessible fashion on a national scale. Nevertheless, C&A remained a major reference.
Behind-the-scenes reports depict C&A as the benchmark of the industry. So much so that folklore stories speak of promises to open C&A stores in front of new rival units, in a sort of permanent showcase duel.
In 1995, after an aggressive promotion by Renner, C&A reacted with installment plans of five times and the first installment due in 60 days, generating a response in major newspapers and creating a classic case of competitive strategy in retail.
Meanwhile, C&A was expanding its regional presence. In the 1990s, it entered Argentina, an operation that ended in 2009 due to underperformance. In 1999, it opened its first store in Mexico, which would become the second major hub for C&A in Latin America.
In the 2000s, C&A brought the runway universe into its stores without abandoning its focus on accessibility. The partnership with Gisele Bündchen helped encapsulate glamour and attainable prices in the same window. C&A managed to sell dreams and bills in the same bag.
In the 2010s, it accelerated digitization. E-commerce arrived, along with click-and-collect, and full integration of physical and online stocks. In 2008, C&A had 168 stores in Brazil.
About ten years later, it operated approximately 285 units and an expanding online platform, building the bridge between in-store viewing and online purchasing. The next step would be to open itself to stock market scrutiny.
Brening Mayer Family, Cofra, and the Cultural Shock of C&A’s IPO
In October 2019, C&A Brazil debuted on the B3. The stock was priced at 16.50 reais, moving around 1.63 billion reais. It was C&A’s definitive entry into the world of investors, after more than a century under the closed control of the same family.
Behind the operation is the Cofra group, a diversified conglomerate with branches in fashion retail, real estate, private equity, and wealth management, fully owned by the descendants of Clemens and August. The common trait among these businesses is a combination of discretion, control, and aversion to the spotlight.
The Brening Mayer family always preferred to operate out of the media and public numbers, with strict rules for succession and management participation.
An internal board made the major strategic decisions, keeping power within a circle of trust.
This culture of secrecy spanned generations and was also manifested in C&A Brazil. Numbers kept tightly guarded, debt avoided even when it could be advantageous, and banking negotiations conducted in a highly confidential environment.
There was even a special code, called Albert Dinker, to communicate results over the phone, in which each letter represented a number.
This model works in a private company; however, it clashes with the demands of the capital market, which requires transparency, predictability, and continuous dialogue with investors.
The IPO of C&A was less a financial event and more a cultural clash between an extremely reserved family and an environment that thrives on open information.
Pandemic, High Interest Rates, and C&A’s Stress Test
Shortly after the IPO, C&A faced the most significant recent stress test in retail. The pandemic in 2020 led to the temporary closure of shopping centers and forced thousands of stores to close or change their format.
As an icon of physical retail, C&A was hit hard. Suddenly, it became necessary to accelerate investments in technology, logistics, and working capital in a scenario of great uncertainty.
Almost at the same time, Brazil entered a cycle of high interest rates that reduced consumers’ purchasing power and made credit more expensive, which is particularly harmful for fashion retail.
In this context, C&A still faced its own challenges. After selling its financial arm to Bradesco in 2009, it maintained the partnership via Bradescard but, now listed on the stock market, decided to repurchase the operation and create C&A Pay.
The deal of 415 million reais was postponed to 2025 in a high-interest environment, which increased the perception of uncertainty.
The bet on electronics and beauty within the concept of “Fashiontronics” began to pressure margins. It was a segment of low differentiation and high competition that consumed energy and capital without delivering an adequate return.
Between 2022 and 2023, the market saw C&A as disciplined but somewhat unpredictable. This combination drove away short-term investors.
The reflection appeared in the stock price: between the end of February and the beginning of March 2023, C&A Brazil’s stock reached a historic low of 1.88 real, symbolizing a company in a delicate process, trying to be public without losing its family identity.
The Turnaround Through Governance and C&A’s Return to the Top
C&A Brazil’s turnaround began with a decision on the power structure. In the first half of 2023, the company started a complete professionalization process for its leadership.
The board of directors became predominantly independent, and the executive board became 100 percent non-family, something unprecedented for the brand in the country.
This change brought cadence, autonomy, and shared responsibility. C&A, previously guided by instinct and tradition, began to decide with method, data, and clear profitability goals.
CEO Paulo Correa consolidated disciplined management, closing unprofitable stores, reducing imports, accelerating the use of data analysis, and launching C&A Pay as a loyalty tool, always with the thesis that the turnaround would come from execution.
As chairman of the board, Marcos Graçasso began demanding rhythm, alignment, and focus, reaching the European board of C&A by 2024, strengthening the bridge between Brazil and the headquarters.
Laurenci Beltrão Gomes, CFO from rival Renner, reorganized the capital, reduced costs, and transformed the finance area into a strategic center for the operation, not just a support area.
With this triad, C&A began to look at profitability per square meter, review its product mix, and prioritize lines with returns exceeding the cost of capital.
Low-value operations, such as electronic kiosks, were shut down, while more profitable categories, such as hygiene and beauty, with gross margins around 40 percent, gained space.
The results showed up in the numbers. In 2024, C&A Brazil recorded 7.6 billion reais in net revenue and a profit of 452.5 million reais, signaling a robust recovery.
In the second quarter of 2025, profit jumped 138.9 percent, driven by operational efficiency and financial discipline. The stock returned to the 15 reais range after having traded below 2 reais at its worst moment. C&A turned governance into a competitive strategy and proved that transparency also creates value.
What C&A’s Trajectory Teaches About the Future of Retail
From the linen route between Germany and Holland to the shopping windows in Brazil and the B3 trading floor, C&A has become a living manual of retail.
In the end, C&A’s journey shows that business maturity is not just about growth but learning to reinvent itself without tearing its own DNA.
The discipline of peddlers, the obsession with method, and the focus on execution have spanned centuries, only changing stages and metrics.
Ótima estória. Feita com muito trabalho, dedicação e persistência. Então nada mais justo do que colher os frutos depois de tudo.
A C&A COMEÇOU NO BRASIL POR PORTO ALEGRE, ANTIGA CASA LOURO, E NÃO POR SÃO PAULO (IGUATEMI) NO QUAL ESTIVE NA INAUGURACAO, ACOMPANHEI A NEGOCIAÇÃO POIS ERA FORNECEDOR REPRESENTANTE COMERCIAL DE CALÇADOS.
A primeira loja no Brasil foi a do Shopping Center Ibirapuera, em 1976. A matéria contém dois erros. O sobrenome da família e o código para transmitir vendas por telefone.
Trabalhei na empresa entre julho de 1980 até Agosto de 1996. Entrei para ajudar implantação da informática na empresa.
Foram anos maravilhosos. Uma família,fiz vários amigos e muitos ainda tenho amizade até hoje. Empresa idônea, familiar. Sinto saudades até hoje, mesmo após estar aposentado.
Desejo só sucesso a ela e a todos colaboradores.