Candle straight in the attitude, binding in conversation, interested and accessible: Many people in the shoe industry experienced the Berlin entrepreneur Hans Leinweber. He loved shoes and lived for his company, the AS group (UA Aktiv-Schuh, Shoe City).
He had been born into this: his grandfather, the master shoemaker Wilhelm Lehmann, had laid the foundation for this. His son Max led the company through the war years after Lehmann’s death. After Max ‘death, his wife Erna took over the business. In the 1960s, her son Hans Leinweber took over the shoe store and initially led it alone, later together with his wife Maria de Lurdes Carvalho Leinweber. Under his leadership, new locations were added, the shoe store became a branchist: Hans Leinweber developed the family business with a lot of diligence and the courage to try new things. The boss attached great importance to communicating with people at eye level; the employees as well as the supplier. Leinweber never spared himself and was always available for everyone. Every Saturday the boss went on tours to the branches. And if there were open Sundays, it was a matter of course for the entrepreneur to be on site to signal to his team: everyone here is helping. Hans Leinweber brought his sons Marc and Timo according to this philosophy. Even as teenagers, both were encouraged by the father to help in the company to earn their pocket money. So they learned that you have to perform if you want to achieve something. Both developed the driver’s license in this way. And – instead of cruising with a brand new car through Berlin’s streets – could borrow the company’s own panel van. Hans Leinweber made nothing of status symbols. And he attached great importance to the fact that his sons and their families saw it as well.
Hans Leinweber was a “hand hit”. A agreement made was binding for him. He could be strict and sometimes hard. And if one thing was important to him, then he could argue. But, so the companion describes it, he was always fair. He was economical with praise. However, he was able to recognize successes from competitors and tried to learn from it. Clarity and decency were important for him. And it was difficult for him to accept when others saw it differently. His sons Marc and Timo, “Out of Pure Passion and conviction shoe dealers, report it”.
Hans Leinweber rarely took time for hobbies. The company always came first. He was sociable and liked to meet friends occasionally or went to the cinema. With great passion, he made travel to different countries together with his wife and often the entire family. “His industry” was always there on these occasions. “If there had been a shoe store next to the Eiffel Tower, he would have decided to visit the shoe business first,” said Marc and Timo, who entered the management of the group in 2010. In the mid-2010s, Hans Leinweber retired from the operational. However, he continued to observe the events in the industry and was “his” company and family with advice and action. Hans Leinweber studied the specialist press intensively until a few days before his death and was very well in the picture of all events and events. Hans Leinweber died on June 15, 2025 at the age of 84 after a long, serious illness with his family.
