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About a year ago I came across the Zuleeg Manufactory from Upper Franconia. Since then, I have sewn one or the other nice garments from their great fabrics. At last, the Sewing Pattern Marion Coat from one of her fine German Tweed herringbone.

I am very pleased that textile designer Stefanie Romig has answered a few questions about Zuleegs Organicz and German Tweed collections and gives an insight into the corporate philosophy of Zuleeg.

Interview with Stefanie Romig, textile designer at Zuleeg

Zuleeg has been producing fabrics for more than 90 years, especially for the fashion industry, in its own weaving mill in Germany. Since some years you launched a new collection called “Organicz” that is strictly bound to biological and ecological certificates. How did that happen?

Sustainability, fair working conditions and a clean environment have always been a concern in our corporate philosophy as fundamental values ​​of our actions. We also wanted to add to the high quality German Tweed collection even more variants in cotton and fine new wool for summer.

To whom do you primarily sell the fabrics of the Organicz collection?

Exhibitors at the Ethical Fashion / Green Showroom, some well-known labels in France with their own retail stores. Unfortunately this is still not a big topic for the top brands in Germany. As a member of the textile alliance, however, we notice that consciousness is slowly changing here as well.

Do you feel that in the fashion industry kind of the awareness has changed, especially in the choice of fabrics? If so, do you think that the consumers demand was the key factor for a change?

I think it has hardly changed so far for us as a supplier to the fashion industry. Through the online shop selling to the end consumer, we want to bring the consumer closer to our fine products and make them more known in the market. As mentioned earlier, the textile alliance seems to be moving.

Since when is the German Tweed produced by Zuleeg? Can you explain how this collection is produced and what are the key elements?

The idea was developed together with the company Benvenuto in 2008. They wanted a special, sustainable product short ways from the raw material to the finished fabric. Then we had the idea – crazy at that time -, to spin and dye wool from German sheep which was not used at all for fabrics. The weaving was and is done by us of course and the refinement at our partners 2 km away, the Knopf’s son. This protects the environment in a unique way for a textile product, reducing CO2 emissions to an absolute minimum – an absolute uniqueness in the textile chain.

The online shop with a great offer of your fabrics exists as far as I know was launched not so long ago. When did you go online and who would you like to reach?

Our online shop went online in September 2017 and we wanted to reach above all the end customers – the professional dressmaker as well the seamstress and also retailers. Let’s say all who admire for high-quality fabric qualities and use them. Accordingly, all who love extraordinary and valuable fabrics have addressed the right person when they visit us.

Sewing is no longer cheaper than to buying clothes already for a long time. Meanwhile, seamstresses invest a lot of time and money to sew their own clothes. Do you think – regarding your customers – there is change towards quality?

Of course, our customers spend more time processing our high quality and more expensive woven fabrics. Mostly even a sample is sewn first from a cheaper fabric before before they begin to use our fabrics. By now of course people more and more appreciate a pure woven wool fabric as they are already quite rare to find.  We really like to give an insight into our production. Luckily, Made in Germany has become (again) very important to many customers.

How are your designs developed?

Our designs are created directly in our house. Our textile designers design a Spring and Summer and a Autumn and Winter every year built on trend and market research and on special customer needs. On behalf of various design programs, these designs are immediately transferable to the weaving mill.

Do you think that a fashion revolution is in progress? How would you define this?

The revolution is more taking place in the trading platforms. Online shopping is booming, the stationary trade is under pressure. The buying behavior of end consumers has changed completely. Unfortunately, the quality aspect of many fade completely to the background – a fact that does not facilitate life and work of a manufacturer of real exceptional fabrics. We are therefore very pleased that we receive an extraordinary amount of praise from our online customers.

What do you wish for the future of the textile processing industry?

If I am allowed to dream: an appreciation of our work up to the end consumers and media that this trade really should deserve; it would help a lot if the consumer would recognize the true value of a garment. It can not be that a T-shirt that costs 3 € is produced under fair conditions, just as it could not be that a T-shirt costs 100 € even with the use of the finest raw material. Unfortunately, the customers are still leaded on with this pricing policies.  

Dear Stefanie, thank you very much for this very informative interview. We are very excited as seamstresses to get more and more of your beautiful fabrics via your online-shop…!

Processing high-quality fabrics under fair working conditions into great clothes with style this is what Lanius a fashion label from Cologne makes to which I would like to refer here today.

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PHILOSOPHY

FAIR & ORGANIC

I’m happy that I can give away something again today! Just post a comment until today (27.4.) 12 CET clock and with a some luck you maybe win this great statement shopper of Lanius. Good luck!

The “Merle” Bra from Erlich Textil goes to Tasha. Congratulations!