What is the difference between the uniforms made by Reitz, E&W Reitz and E.Reitz ?
During the past years, I received many questions about the difference between the two stamps “Reitz” and “E.Reitz” on German WWII uniforms.
In fact these are two different companies ! We will explain the difference on this page.
Reitz
The Reitz company already existed well before the war broke out. Therefore it is common to find early uniforms with the Reitz stamp.
We encountered Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe uniforms bearing this marking.
The Reitz company continued to make uniforms well into 1944. Therefore it is logical to find M43 and later uniforms with their marking.
I have not been able to retrace the whereabouts of this company nor to find out where exactly they had factories.
Below are several examples of the different Reitz stamps that we have encountered on original WWII German uniforms.
E. & W. Reitz
In 1921 Erich and his brother Wilhelm founded the “Kleiderfabrik E. & W. Reitz” in Barmen - Wuppertal Germany.
Somewhere between Oct 1938 and Jan 1940 they changed the companies’ name into E. & W. Reitz Uniformwerk.
The E. & W. Reitz Uniformwerk remained in business till 1945.
The factory stamp with name, address, phone number and telegramm data
The E. & W. Reitz Uniformwerk stamp on a 1942 pattern pair of winter trousers, size III.
The E. & W. Reitz Uniformwerk stamp on a cotton tropical Kriegsmarine jacket. These jackets did not exist in 1940. Another proof that this stamp was in use later than 1941 after the invasion of the Balkans and North Africa.
On the left is another very fine example of the E. & W. Reitz Uniformwerk stamp on an Afrikakorps tropical uniform in tan cotton.
E. Reitz
The E.Reitz company was founded by Erich Reitz when he moved from Wuppertal Germany to Merksem near Antwerp, Belgium in December 1940.
Both he and his brother remained executive directors of the company E. & W. Reitz in Wuppertal.
So Erich had one and a half companies, where his brother Wilhelm only had half a company. In reality Wilhelm was the director in chief of the Wuppertal plant, where Erich was running all other plants.
Since he signed the rental agreement for the building at Merksem in December 1940, the earliest production of uniforms would have been started in the beginning of 1941.
We have delivery notes of equipment from Wuppertal to Antwerp starting on 22 Jan 1941 and ending 23 March 1941.
So it is highly unlikely to encounter the M36 uniforms with an E.Reitz stamp on them.
The factory stamp with name, and address,. Note that it mentions 2 adresses :
Hauptverwaltung ( head office ) : Frankrijklei 109 This was in downtown Antwerp
Hauptwerk ( main factory ) Merxem Bramtocostraat 2
Four examples of E.Reitz stamps on different Wehrmacht Heer woolen or cotton uniforms, on a Luftwaffe Fliegerbluse and on a Kriegsmarine tropical tan cotton uniform.