Aiming for Superlatives

Made in-house of the best organic cotton and in a socially sustainable manner: Stefan Brandt’s jersey collection.

STEFAN BRANDT AIMING FOR SUPERLATIVES The Stefan Brandt collection is preceded by its reputation for its “world-class shirt”. This is no surprise given that Stefan Brandt himself is ambitious enough to strive for the greatest possible perfection in every product. The label is now turning its attention to distribution.

The Stefan Brandt label has never bothered about marketing – until now. The focus has always been on making the pure product desirable. Stefan Brandt has trod rather unusual paths to achieve this. His story is marked by pioneering spirit and courage, by trial and error. The graduate physicist travelled to the University of Cartagena, Colombia, as a guest scientist in 1992 and founded his first textile company in Quito, Ecuador, one year later. “Ecuador is a jersey stronghold, which fascinated me,” says Brandt. He launched the boxer shorts label Boyz, which added shirts to its range in 1995. Everything was made of the best available raw materials, to ensure products with special elasticity and feel thanks to fine, densely knitted yarns.

PIONEERING SPIRIT AND COURAGE

“Even back then, a few shirts reached stores in Germany. Joschka Fischer, a former Green politician, was a huge fan,” Brandt reports proudly. 2012 marked the birth of the Stefan Brandt label, which relies on Peruvian long-staple ELS Pima Cotton. “Using my own specially developed processes, I was able to extract the ‘South American Silk’ inherent in luxury cotton,” Brandt explains. He believes the German-speaking market is ideal. “Pairing luxury with ethics plays an important role here; I strive to be on point.” The label is fully integrated: from the extraction of organic cotton to the finished garment. Now Brandt is eager to resettle Pima Cotton in Ecuador.

Stefan Brandt questions conven- tional manufac- turing methods in order to improve them continuously.

“The project has historical dimensions, because Pima was cultivated in Ecuador in 4400 BC,” he stresses. “The first harvest is scheduled for the upcoming summer.” The jersey collection has been expanded by adding underwear/nightwear, polo shirts, trousers, and sports jackets. Material innovations are introduced regularly. One example is a winter jersey for which alpaca wool is spun with ELS Pima.

EXPANDABLE

Today, the label has around 140 points of sale in Germany, 50 in Switzerland, and 30 in Austria. The men’s collection is stocked by Masculin Group. Lodenfrey, Bailly Diehl, Gränicher, and Ciolina stock both lines. However, there’s potential for more. Modalek has been the sales agent for Switzerland since 2014. It was high time for a proper sales structure in Germany and Austria. Since mid-2019, Borghetti & Bülow have been responsible for selective expansion in the markets of Austria, Bavaria, and Baden-Württemberg. Ben Botas of Ben And covers all other German federal states. “The most important thing for me is that my sales partner has the same passion for our unique product. I believe I am in good hands with all three partners.”

Because skiing is always best when human and skis harmonise perfectly, Sigi Rumpfhu- ber’s Original+ offers what is normally only accessible to world-class skiers: individually tailored skis.

ORIGINAL+ MADE IN SKIVALLEY The Original+ ski brand is not only an antithesis to globalisation, but also proof of how restriction unleashes creativity. One hundred percent direct-to-consumer, Sigi Rumpfhuber and his Original+ team embody a paradigm shift within the ski industry.

TYPS is not only the name of the legal entity behind Original+, but is also Sigi Rumpfhuber’s vita in a nutshell. It stands for “Take Your Passion Seriously”. Born in Austria, he is an avid skier. One might say this is not unusual in a country where everyone skis, but he is that little bit more passionate about the sport than others. A combination of ski racing and business studies was followed by development jobs at Fischer. A little later, he teamed up with two other skiing enthusiasts in an attempt to revive the Kästle brand. Even then, Rumpfhuber was the one questioning the crazy trade cycles of the ski industry. Conventionally structured brands merely allow ski retailers a few weeks to sell skis at full price. “This industry has ruined itself,” Rumpfhuber argues with conviction. After leaving Kästle, he started working according to his TYPS principle. He completed his ski and mountain guide training, spent plenty of time on the slopes, expanded product lines and capacities for brands such as G3, and launched the ski service specialist Kante Scharf in Salzburg. But once a developer, always a developer… The desire for creating his own ski brand finally resulted in Original+, a business that exclusively manufactures custom-made skis, which are adapted to the customer’s skiing style based on a proprietary, AI-supported test software named Origo. “We implement the idea of individualised skis consistently,” says Rumpfhuber. It was clear to him from the outset that such a strategy would have to work without intermediaries. “It is not primarily a question of margin. Our target group is looking for the best consulting experience, both on a qualitative and interpersonal level.”

GREEN ON WHITE

Picking up individually manufactured skis from Original+ is a trip that many people make very willingly. “I am a very analytical guy. Basing Original+ in Salzburg would be justified by the toughest analyses. All components required for manufacturing our skis are sourced from companies within a radius of 300 kilometres around Salzburg.” The topic of sustainability comes to mind. Rumpfhuber made up his mind a long time ago: “The goal must be to create a climate-friendly ski in the foreseeable future.” Greenwashing for marketing purposes is definitely not Rumpfhuber’s style. He has already teamed up with a university to research which changes would have the most beneficial effect. “There is a glass ceiling in terms of quality when manufacturing skis. Once it is reached, individual adjustments are the only improvements possible. This will also be our approach to sustainability. We are the only company in the world that has a purely Austrian ownership structure and manufactures its skis in Austria. This alone ensures a high level of sustainability. Now we are working on those individual adjustments.”