Ulla Popken is a German clothing retailer headquartered in

Rastede Rastede (Low German: ''Raastäe/Raas'') is a municipality in the Ammerland district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 12 km north of Oldenburg. It is the site of the Schloss Rastede. The Rastede railway station is loc ...

. It specializes in Women's plus size clothing and sells these in more than 320 stores across

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

as well as in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

through a biweekly 48-page catalog.

History

In 1880, Johann Popken, the grandfather of Ulla Popken's husband Friedrich, founded a textile company in

Hamelin Hamelin ( ; german: Hameln ) is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont and has a population of roughly 57,000. Hamelin is best known for the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. H ...

. During the 20th century, his son Karl operated the business until he stopped in 1960 due to failing health. Eight years later, Karl's son Friedrich and his wife Ulla took over operations. In 1968, they opened the first specialty maternity shop in Oldenburg, Germany. By 1978, the company had three stores in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, and

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. In 1993, the company started marketing in the United States. After the launch of their online store in 1999, the company opened its first U.S. store in

Towson, Maryland Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorpo ...

the following year. Ulla Popken's U.S. headquarters are located in

Glen Arm, Maryland Glen Arm is an unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. Glen Arm lies along what is now Glen Arm Road, which was once part of Old Harford Road, one of the early routes used for conveying agricultural products from ...

. In 2008, Astrid Popken and her husband, Thomas Schneider, took over the management of Ulla Popken in Germany. In 2012, the Popken Fashion Group was created. Under this umbrella are four brands: Ulla Popken, Gina Laura, menswear label JP1880, and Studio Untold.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
Clothing brands of Germany Clothing retailers of Germany Retail companies established in 1968 1968 establishments in West Germany Companies based in Lower Saxony Retail companies of Germany Online retailers of Germany German brands Ammerland