Henning Strauss receives honorary doctorate in business administration and gives Seaver College commencement address.
Los Angeles, CA / Columbus, OH / Malibu, CA / Biebergemünd, Germany – May 4, 2026 – Henning Strauss, CEO and owner of workwear company STRAUSS (operating as Engelbert Strauss, Inc. in the U.S.) and the driving force behind the STRAUSS decal on Major League Baseball helmets during the postseason and World Series, returned to Pepperdine University’s Seaver College as the 2026 Distinguished Alumnus to deliver the 2026 commencement address and receive an honorary doctorate in business administration.
“Pepperdine gave me the gift of perspective,” Henning Strauss told graduates. “A conviction that real success is not what you achieve, but what you contribute. That mindset shaped how we built STRAUSS and how we go about growing our business and supporting the people behind it.”
After graduating from Pepperdine in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Henning Strauss joined the family company in Germany and launched its first workwear collection in 2003. Henning and his brother Steffen transformed STRAUSS from a regional catalog-based retailer into a multi-channel global workwear player with annual revenues of $1.5 billion and around 1,700 employees. As head of branding and product design, Henning Strauss has led a long-term brand strategy that turned the company’s ostrich logo into a cultural icon across Europe and repositioned STRAUSS as a leader in workwear and safety gear.
“Henning Strauss exemplifies the kind of values-based leadership and entrepreneurial drive Pepperdine seeks to cultivate in its students,” said Jim Gash, president of Pepperdine University. “Under his guidance, STRAUSS has grown from a small family business into a global workwear brand, all while staying rooted in integrity, service, and community. In honoring him with this doctorate, we recognize both his impressive business record and his commitment to investing in the next generation.”
Building Tomorrow’s Talent
Education is central to STRAUSS’s philosophy. The Strauss family has supported schools and educational initiatives worldwide for two decades. In 2025, Henning Strauss founded ALEA School, a bilingual, project-driven secondary school in his hometown of Bad Orb. The school offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) program alongside the traditional German curriculum, giving local students access to international educational opportunities as well as partnerships with Villanova Preparatory School in Ojai, California and St Leonard’s School in St. Andrews, Scotland. The ALEA initiative complements other education projects supported by the family in Germany and abroad, including schools (Don Bosco Strauss School), research institutes (Kronberg Institute for Music & Health), and university chairs (Chair for Sustainability and Textile Innovation).
At the corporate level, STRAUSS launched STRAUSS Academy in 2025 as a dual-study International Business program. The three-year program developed in partnership with Provadis Hochschule in Frankfurt, Germany combines academic study with hands-on roles at STRAUSS headquarters and international learning modules. STRAUSS and Pepperdine are currently building an academic and practical exchange between the Academy and the Seaver College business division.
Making a Mark in the Big Leagues
Henning Strauss is known for creating powerful brand narratives that elevate industrial culture and celebrate tradespeople. The brand’s iconic “ostrich” has become a seal of quality for skilled workers who take pride in their craft, elevating the trades by changing how they see themselves and are seen by others. Strauss was named “Brand Manager of the Year” by the prestigious German Brand Awards in 2023. The company’s brand marketing efforts have been recognized industry-wide on both sides of the Atlantic, including being honored with the 2023 German Marketing Award, the 2024 TW-Forum-Preis for Marketing, and both the 2025 SMA Sponsor of the Year and Horizont Sportsbusiness Sponsor of the Year awards for its MLB partnership.
Sports have been a key part of the company’s brand strategy and its entry into the U.S. market. Under Henning Strauss’s leadership, STRAUSS has pursued high-visibility partnerships with UEFA, the NFL in Europe, Liverpool FC, Bayern Munich, and Major League Baseball. In a first for MLB in the United States, the STRAUSS brand is featured on players’ batting helmets during the postseason and World Series, introducing the workwear leader to millions of Americans and associating the brand with one of the most iconic stages in U.S. sports.
Showing Up on the Worksite
As STRAUSS moves from entering the U.S. market to showing up on worksites across the country, the focus of the workwear brand remains close to the customer: being where the work gets done and backing the people who do it. The company is adapting its functional workwear and supply chain to American conditions, integrating U.S. cotton, Made-in-USA production where possible, and tailoring its products to local climates, regulations, and wearing habits.
At the same time, Henning Strauss believes the future of work in the U.S. and Europe hinges on how society values skilled work. He points to deepening skilled labor shortages across construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and industrial services as a call to act. “As this gap grows, it is more important than ever to actively champion professions in the trades and raise appreciation for them,” Strauss says.
That is why STRAUSS treats education and talent development not as side projects, but as core to its long-term strategy. By investing in education and building its own pipeline of internationally minded talent from secondary school to university level, the company is betting on the next generation of leaders in offices and on jobsites. For Henning Strauss, the honorary doctorate from Pepperdine is a full-circle moment that ties his education in Malibu to his leadership of a global family-owned company and his renewed commitment to supporting the next generation of business leaders and skilled tradespeople in the United States and Europe.
ABOUT STRAUSS
Engelbert Strauss, or simply STRAUSS, is a global leader in workwear design and manufacturing. Founded in 1948, the family-owned company is overseen by brothers Henning and Steffen Strauss, the third generation of the Strauss family. Its iconic ostrich logo reflects the family’s name and roots—Strauss means ostrich in German. The ostrich is trusted by tradespeople, builders, farmers, and DIYers across the globe for its pioneering style of technical, multi-pocket workwear that melds performance and function with comfort and design. Now firmly established in the U.S., STRAUSS ships nationwide, operates a flagship store in Venice, California, maintains a strong presence at trade shows across the country, and is setting up a new headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. For more, visit STRAUSS.com
ABOUT PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY
Pepperdine University is a private Christian university located 30 miles west of Downtown Los Angeles in Malibu, California. Rooted in the Christian tradition, Pepperdine is committed to the relentless pursuit of trutch through academic excellence and to embodying Christian faith and values. With students at the heart of the educational enterprise, the University prepares approximately 9,000 scholars for lives of purpose, service, and leadership across its flagship liberal arts school, Seaver College; the Pepperdein College of Health and Science; and four graduation schools—the Caruso School of Law; the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School; the Graduate School of Education and Psychology and the School of Public Policy.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Meghan Davis – Engelbert STRAUSS
Email: media@strauss.com