“Stationary Retailers Are Our Brand Ambassadors”

HANDSTICH “STATIONARY RETAILERS ARE OUR BRAND AMBASSADORS”

Instead of making a splash, Handstich primarily focuses on providing products with depth and sophisticated details. This predestines the brand for stationary specialised retailers. Where better to experience the collection than in a store?

Interview: Nicoletta Schaper. Photos: Handstich

André, why is Handstich, as a special niche

product, predestined for owner-managed retail?

André Berger, owner of Handstich: Smaller retailers and their staff in particular have great passion for the product, which they are happy to pass on to their customers. We perceive this specifically in our own concept store, which we opened a year ago in Seefeld near our headquarters. The first impression a jacket makes on the hanger is not necessarily decisive. The magic happens when a salesperson invites the customer to try it on. A man in a quilted jacket by Handstich appears to stand taller, with a certain sense of pride. Such a moment can only be created and experienced live in a store, face-to-face with a salesperson. As a brand that is not particularly well-known, we need the salesperson as an ambassador who can explain to customers what Handstich has to offer.

What do you offer, for example?

Our jackets have always been very carefully conceived, but they have evolved and are now visually more streamlined and relaxed than before. Look and feel are sartorially influenced, although the typical Handstich elements are now more evident in the elaborate interior of the jacket, be it the colour or a colour-contrasting inner pocket. This shows that we have given careful thought to what the wearer really needs. The inside is aligned with the outside: the detailing remains, even in the exciting mix of materials that is now more tonal in terms of colour. We stick to a modern layering look: down continues to take centre stage and is complemented by wool, corduroy, canvas, and cotton gabardine, for example in shirts designed as overshirts and hybrid jacket types featuring hoods and lambskin elements. We also present leggings in leather for women.

Suppose I come to your store as a customer. What will I be told about Handstich? What is the story?

Let me give you an example. Just the other day, a customer told me that three generations of her family now exclusively wear Handstich jackets, because they enjoy the product immensely and feel so comfortable in it. These moments feed into our story, because Handstich is meant to represent a certain lifestyle as a favourite piece.

Handstich is ten years old. What comes next?

We feel comfortable in our role as the underdog. Instead of making a splash, we allow the products to speak for

André Berger perceives Handstich as a brand that creates an instore experience.

Excellent look and feel created by sophisticated workmanship. Handstich pieces retail at prices between 400 and 800 Euros.

themselves. That remains our core brand message, which is now being promoted by new sales partners such as Markus Kimpfler and Axel Bayer in Bavaria and Marcus Heck of Agentur Wagner in Western and Northern Germany. Both appreciate our product values greatly and understand the essence of the brand. Together we hope to find the right brand ambassadors in the retail sector who will help us share the Handstich story.

Handstich’s own concept store in Seefeld hosts other fashion collections and stocks regional gourmet products. Simultaneously, it serves as an example for soft shop solutions with retail partners.

Among

OURSELVES

Personal encounters are invaluable – this realisation is irrevocable. Retail is a touchpoint in the most literal sense of the word. It is where people come into contact with brands and consumption is energised anew. Face-to-face, in an exchange among equals, is where the spark is ignited.

Text: Stefanie Buchacher, Janaina Engelmann-Brothànek, Kay Alexander Plonka, Martina Müllner-Seybold, Nicoletta Schaper