The beginnings of the C&A company go back to 1841, when Mettingen-born itinerant traders Clemens (1818–1902) and August (1819–1892) Brenninkmeijer open their first warehouse under the C&A name in the Dutch town of Sneek. Their father Johann Gerhard (1764–1843) lends his sons 10,000 Dutch guilders to boost their start-up capital, as emerges from this handwritten loan commitment of 1 January 1841. This founding loan is a very substantial sum. Its size can be better appreciated when we compare it with the rent for C&A’s first premises, occupying the upper floor of a building on Oosterdijk street, for which the brothers had to pay their landlord 150 guilders per annum.