The story behind Merz b. Schwanen
The story behind Merz b. Schwanen is a story of ups and downs, the death of a family business and its revival.
In 1911, Balthazar Merz founded the company Merz b. Schwanen in the Swabian Alb. In doing so, he built on the already flourishing textile industry in the region. At the time of industrialisation, this was the salvation for many farmers and workers, as agriculture was becoming increasingly unprofitable in this barren region and many people were going hungry. Many farmers therefore switched to sheep farming, which made the development of the textile industry even more obvious. This family business existed for almost 100 years over several generations, employing up to 2000 people in its heyday, but in 2008 the last production hall had to close its doors, as many other textile companies in the region had done before. Globalisation and the accompanying flood of cheap products from Asia put an end to the company, which was simply no longer able to keep up with the increasingly low prices. This could have been the end of the story.
BUT
At Easter in 2010, Peter Plotnicki discovered an old worker's shirt at a flea market and, as a trained men's tailor and designer, was immediately smitten. A faded yet soft cotton fabric, fabric-covered laundry buttons and a sleeve cuff knitted with different stitch sizes. But the icing on the cake were the sides, which didn't have a single seam. Peter Plotnicki knew immediately that this shirt would change his life. So he started researching and came across the story of Balthazar Merz and Merz b. Schwanen. Moved by this tragic and at the same time typical regional fate, he travelled to the Swabian Alb and met Rudolf Oder, a textile manufacturer who is still active there. He harboured a small treasure, as he showed Plotnicki a room full of original circular knitting machines from the last and penultimate century. Plotnicki's idea was to restore these machines to their former glory and bring history back to life, so the two of them set to work and made this vision a reality. They also overcame the hurdle of finding people who were familiar with these machines and could operate them without any difficulty. This ambitious project spread like wildfire in the region and it wasn't long before the descendants of Balthazar Merz also heard about the idea. They were so enthusiastic that they offered Plotnicki the brand name ‘Merz. b. Schwanen’. This revitalised almost 100 years of company and family history, just as the swan symbolises in the name. The swan not only stands for grace and beauty, it also symbolises an end followed by a new beginning.
In January 2011, just in time for the company's 100th anniversary, the time had come. Merz b. Schwanen was able to present its first new collection at the international textile trade fair Bread & Butter.
If you would like to know more about the philosophy of Merz b. Schwanen and the slow and fast fashion industry, you can see an interview here. Have a look.
