The New Yorker SE is a German clothing retailer headquartered in Braunschweig. It is a family business and is owned by the Knapp family; the family is represented on the company's governing bodies by Friedrich Knapp's three daughters.
In 1971, the first New Yorker store was opened in Flensburg. The company has over 26,000 employees and spans over around 50 countries in three continents.
In 1971, Tilmar Hansen and Michael Simson opened the first New Yorker branch in downtown Flensburg, which at first was just a simple jeans shop. A little later, Friedrich Knapp, who managed a denim store in Braunschweig at the time, joined the company. The three eventually founded SHK-Jeans GmbH and opened their first branches throughout Germany in the 1970s and 1980s.
In 1990, Simson left the company and remained connected to it only as the owner of several properties housing New Yorker stores. In 1994, the company expanded abroad for the first time, opening a branch in Linz, Austria. The company continued to expand, entering the Czech Republic and Poland from 1998. While Tilmar Hansen left the company with a payout in 2001, Knapp was involved in the management of the company until his death in 2024 and his heirs continue to hold company shares.
Annual sales first exceeded one billion Deutsche Mark in 2001 and one billion euros in 2006 for the first time. In 2007, an LED wall covering an area of 85 square metres was mounted on the façade of the former historical Adolf Frank department store in Braunschweig's city centre, which was being converted into a new flagship store; the wall displays the company's own advertising as well as cultural events, sports and music events, news, and similar content. The project also included a renovation of the building itself, which was intended to become a "commercial building for young fashion" after the conversion. The flagship store opened in 2008 as the company's then-largest store, with approximately 3,100 square metres of retail space.
In 2014, almost two thirds of the company's revenue was generated outside Germany. In June 2023, following a refurbishment, the company opened its largest store, with more than 3,200 square metres of retail space, in Amsterdam.
In late October 2024, the company reorganised its leadership. As part of these changes, Jonas Gnauck joined the management board alongside Friedrich Knapp and Helene Steiner. Gnauck joined the company in 2011 and had been a member of the management board of New Yorker SE since May 2024. On 15 November 2024, Friedrich Knapp died at the age of 73.
Under new leadership, the company opened or modernised around 180 stores within a year and entered new markets, including Greece and Malta. On 1 April 2026, Sophie Knapp was appointed to the management board of New Yorker SE. Since then, the board has consisted of Jonas Gnauck as chairman and Friedrich Knapp's eldest daughter Sophie Knapp; at the same time, the supervisory board was reconstituted under the chairmanship of Michael Kellerbach. In the same month, the company opened its first store in Greece, in Athens.
New Yorker SE, headquartered in Braunschweig, is the parent company of the group. New Yorker is a family business and has been owned by the Knapp family since the death of its founder. The family is represented on the company's governing bodies by Friedrich Knapp's three daughters. Since April 2026, the management board has consisted of its chairman Jonas Gnauck and Sophie Knapp. Michael Kellerbach chairs the supervisory board. The supervisory board's other members are Flora Knapp, the entrepreneur Kasimir Rantzau, and Bernd Erle as representative of Lola Knapp. In the 2025 financial year, the group's revenue rose by 13% to just under 3.6 billion euros. The company's headquarters are located on Hansestraße in Braunschweig, where around 1,300 administrative employees worked in several buildings in 2025.
Sales are conducted almost exclusively through the company's own stores. In addition, according to the company, franchise partners operate more than 60 stores (as of 2026). For franchise markets such as Kazakhstan, Morocco and the Middle East, the group maintains its own franchise companies. The company does not operate an online shop for its clothing. In 2026, more than 1,300 stores were spread across more than 50 countries, mainly in Europe and Asia. In 2025, there were 1,335 stores in 48 countries, an increase from 1,250 locations at the end of 2023. The largest single market in 2024 was Germany, with 266 stores. Measured by retail space, around 79% was located outside Germany in 2023. Among the largest stores are the locations in Braunschweig and Amsterdam, each with more than 3,000 square metres of retail space.
Production
The company does not operate any manufacturing facilities of its own. Production is carried out by external suppliers, while the company itself manages the remaining stages of the value chain, from design to sales. According to company information from 2015, around 60% of the goods were manufactured in Europe. The company does not disclose further details about individual production countries or suppliers.
Goods distribution for the international store network is handled through a logistics centre at Waller See in Braunschweig.
Brands
New Yorker is a chain retailer in the young fashion segment. Its product range includes womenswear and menswear, underwear and swimwear, sportswear, and accessories, all sold under the company's own brands. The company is mainly active on brick-and-mortar retail. The range consists of the company's own brands fishbone (also called FSBN), smog, ICONO, and Black Squad (men's clothing), as well as fishbone sister and amisu (women's clothing), and censored (underwear and swimwear). The women's brand amisu was introduced in 2001. The censored lingerie line followed in 2003.
In December 2025, two sports brands, Studio 71 and Lucky Athletes, were added, bringing the total number of the company's own brands to ten. Studio 71, whose name refers to the company's founding year, 1971, is the company's first sports brand for women. The men's brand Lucky Athletes launched with T-shirts, tank tops, shorts, sports jackets, and socks.
In February 2026, New Yorker also introduced a perfume collection consisting of three fragrances for women and three for men, which is sold in its stores.
Criticism
In February 2015, the company was accused of attempting to prevent the establishment of works councils. Frankfurter Rundschau reported that after a works council was established at a store in Offenbach am Main, the company spun off that location into a separate subsidiary, which was subsequently liquidated.
In November 2017, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that Friedrich Knapp, the sole owner of New Yorker, was mentioned in the Paradise Papers. The newspaper described email correspondence regarding the establishment of a Cayman Islands-based aircraft leasing company, which, "for German tax reasons", would hold and lease the company's jets.
New Yorker has faced criticism from sustainability assessment organisations regarding its supply chain transparency. The independent brand rating platform Good On You assigned New Yorker its lowest overall rating, "We Avoid", stating that the company provides insufficient information about its environmental and social impacts and lacks transparency regarding measures taken throughout its supply chain. In addition, New Yorker was among the brands that received a score of 0% in the 2021 Fashion Transparency Index published by Fashion Revolution, which evaluates the extent to which major fashion companies publicly disclose information about their social and environmental policies, practices and supply chains.
Engagement
From November 2011, New Yorker was the owner of FFC Sportmanagement GmbH & Co. KG, the company behind the American football team Braunschweig Lions. From 2011 to 2025, the team also competed under the name New Yorker Lions. Although New Yorker gave up its ownership of the team in 2025, it has remained a sponsor.
From 2006 to 2014, New Yorker was the naming sponsor of the Basketball Löwen Braunschweig basketball team. In December 2024, the company returned as a sponsor of the Bundesliga club and has also appeared on the team's jerseys since 2025.
On several occasions, the company has donated sums in the millions of euros to the charity Ein Herz für Kinder. The company also sponsors the international b-boy competition Battle of the Year.
Marketing
The company's marketing targets a young audience. In the 2000s, the company presented music events such as the Love Parade in Berlin. According to a study by the market research institute GfK, 94% of 14- to 29-year-olds in Germany were familiar with the company in 2015.
In March 2012, Olly Murs became the face of New Yorker's men's spring/summer range and customers were able to get their photos taken with a cardboard cut-out of Murs.
1234Consolidated financial statements of the New Yorker group for the 2025 financial year in the Unternehmensregister (German company register), published on 29 June 2026, accessed on 11 September 2026.
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