German Fashions Hit the Mark

DUESSELDORF, West Germany —  Not long ago the phrase “German fashion” would have been considered a contradiction in terms.

France, Italy, America--even Japan--were considered the world’s fashion leaders. The Germans, it seemed, were on the dowdy side.

No longer. Today the best German designers are highly regarded throughout Europe. And what’s more, West Germany’s sales in the apparel industry are comfortably ahead of any other European country’s--more than $13 billion last year.

West German exports of clothing are second in Europe only to Italy’s, mainly because of Italy’s production of knitwear.

The lean, leggy women strolling along Duesseldorf’s Koenigsallee, or Munich’s Maximilianstrasse, are as elegant and stylish as their counterparts on Milan’s Via Monte Napoleone or Paris’ Avenue Montaigne. German women spend half again as much on clothing as do French women.

“The German fashion industry has always been important,” Manfred Kronen, chairman of the Igedo International Fashion Fair here, told a visitor recently. “But to many it seems to have been a very well-kept secret.”

Now the secret is out: German designs, while not up to Paris’ haute couture , have become fashionable. They are increasingly popular throughout Europe, not only with women but with men who appreciate quality at a reasonable price.

Last year 180,000 buyers attended Duesseldorf’s four fashion fairs. There were 8,000 exhibitors.

The Igedo fashion fair has an office that is open year around, with dozens of fashion houses maintaining permanent displays of clothing, accessories and cosmetics.

Spread-Out Industry

Duesseldorf claims the title of West Germany’s fashion capital, but Kronen acknowledges that the industry is spread out. Duesseldorf bases its claim on the fair, which brings fashion people together, and for its large number of glossy advertising agencies.

Kronen, aware of the mundane reputation German clothing used to have, said: “Let’s face it, the Paris label still means fashion. Milan has come up in the last 20 years. I realize that not many women are dreaming about a German dress. But they have it, they like it, they wear it.

“Sometimes stores even take out the German label. But we do the business, and we leave the glory to others.”

In the past, German houses were known for their reliability, he said, adding: “But it’s pretty hard to take a good fashion-press photo of a punctual delivery. Today German fashion is acquiring an identity and gaining worldwide recognition.”

Among Germany’s top houses are Jil Sander, Hugo Boss (which placed its clothes on U.S. TV shows such as “Miami Vice” and “L.A. Law”), Wolfgang Joop, Wolfgang and Margaretha Ley’s Escada, Bogner, Klaus Steilmann and Herwig Zahm’s Mondi, a favorite with the trendy Princess of Wales.

There are a number of up-and-coming young German designers: Reimer Claussen, Brigitte Heiner, Daniela Bechtolf, Yuca, Barbara Bernstorff, Sandra Pabst, Caren Pfleger, Beatrice Hymphendahl, Uta Raasch.

Klaus Steilmann has coaxed expatriate Karl Lagerfeld, one of fashion’s supernovas, to design a line for his firm, which is based, improbably, in Bochum in the industrial Ruhr Valley. Steilmann, the largest clothing manufacturer in Europe, is one of the continent’s real success stories. His sales last year were about $800 million, and $66 million of it went to the big British chain Marks & Spencer.

“We increased our business last year above what we expected,” he said in a recent interview. “I think the secret of our success is quality and on-time delivery.

“Before the war, Berlin was a major capital of European fashion. After the war, clothing production was gradually rebuilt, and it spread to other parts of West Germany. For years the clothing need in Germany was simply to cover the body. Now we can concentrate on fashion.”

Toward that end, Steilmann, who is 60 and wears sober business suits, makes sure that his company has the flexibility to adapt rapidly to changing tastes in fashion.

“You have to react quickly,” he said. “A couple of years ago, green was all the rage, and we managed in a short time to produce 750,000 garments in green.”

Personal Touch

In order to have a feel for the changing tastes of his customers, Steilmann surveys retail outlets personally and often.

“You’ve got to keep abreast of what is moving in stores so that you can react fast to supply the demand,” he said. “Are jacket lengths coming up or going down? What colors are becoming popular? You need this information.”

To ensure a quick response, he employs 8,000 workers in his West German plants, which account for 55% of his total production. This way he doesn’t need to wait for garments from the Far East, where 20% of his production is based to reduce overall costs.

Steilmann, with his KS label, concentrates on the middle range of the market. Jil Sander, West Germany’s most famous woman designer, aims at the top of the market with her simple, soft “avant-garde classics,” as she calls them.

In her cool white office in a Hamburg townhouse, dressed in a casual gray pantsuit and simple white shirt, Sander projects the restlessness and energy that catapulted her to the top in Germany’s male-dominated business world.

After studying at the Krefeld School of Textiles, where she took a diploma in textile engineering, she completed her studies at UCLA, then worked as a fashion journalist in New York and Hamburg. She switched to free-lance designing and presented her first collection in 1974.

“When I started,” she said, “German fashion buyers all went to Paris, then to Italy. It took some doing to make my own country believe there could be high fashion in Germany.”

As for her design ideas, she said: “I don’t like overdressing. I don’t like to see women looking like clowns. But I like to see their personality come through in what they wear.

“So I emphasize good design, good material and patterns, and a feel for the body. If you don’t feel comfortable in something, what’s the point in wearing it? I like the fact that people say when you wear Jil Sander you feel the difference.

“If you’re going to pay a thousand dollars for a suit, you want to get something back, not keep it 24 hours and then throw it away.”

Like most other top houses, Sander has branched out into cosmetics and perfumes, and she has set a precedent by using her own striking face in her advertising. Her business has doubled in four years, and she worries about overexpansion, which can mean suddenly mushrooming costs.

“Now I’ve got to spend time on administration and management,” she said. “When we were smaller, it was easier.”

Sander, Steilmann and other fashion leaders here look increasingly toward the American market.

“It will be very important,” Sander said. “I feel that if you can please fast-moving working women in Germany, you can please Americans too. But we have to be careful and not throw ourselves all over the place.”

Steilmann put it this way: “I think America is wide open for German fashions. Americans appreciate quality and style at the right price.”