On friday 21.05.2021 I got the interview with Miss Welti:
- What is your opinion about cheap clothes?
"Since the beginning, it was very important for me to produce sustainable clothing. My label was founded 25 years ago and my production has been sustainable for 15 years now. Sustainable production means that I am only using material, which remains beautiful and does not fall apart. This leads to the fact that you can wear your clothes longer and it gives them the potential to be your favorite pieces.
The production of cheap clothes is not well-thought-out. Tons of collections and items are produced and brought on the market, but without thinking about if the clothes will be sold or if a lot of them will only be thrown in the garbage. This problem is especially present with big brands like H&M and ZARA and I am sure we could avoid it.
I understand that people who don't have a lot of money, are more likely to buy the products which are as cheap as possible (fast fashion), but otherwise you could save your money and buy something, which is a little bit more expensive but you can keep it longer. I also did that when I was younger. I did not buy quickly and cheaply but slowly and expensively. I know it is not cheap, but otherwise I had something I really liked and was happy about it."
- What are the advantages and disadvantages about sustainable clothes in your opinion?
"The products I sell are sustainable and you can wear it for a longer time. That is the reason they could be your favorite pieces of clothing and otherwise I have a constant overview of it. At the end of the day it's not the quantity I am happy about, it's the quality.
My clothes are also suitable for travelling and are easy to wash. It's very easy to care for and it's practical. This also helps to save the entire supply chain (material, production, transport)."
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of cheap clothes in your opinion?
"With cheaper clothing, resources are getting drastically reduced. Many people think, that a cotton t-shirt is ecologically justifiable (vertretbar) but that's not true. It's a disaster what it takes to produce one of these shirts.
For a cashmere sweater from H&M the animals in the areas, in which the cashmere-breedings (Kaschmir-Zuchten) are located, are very stressed and put under pressure. This is because of the increased demand for cheap cashmere sweaters. It leads to the creation of several cashmere-breedings in order to accommodate the demand (der Nachfrage nachkommen). This has the consequence, that it leads to an overpopulation of cashmere-breedings. The animals in these breedings (Zuchten) eat everything in these areas. That leads to food shortages (Nahrungsknappheit) and this causes a chain reachtion, which leads to worse quality of the cashmere. Basically everything is deteriorating (verschlechtern).
In my opinion we have to start conserving our resources because we are only poisoning our world. The workers behind it are also employed on very bad terms and I think that we as consumers can contribute to this (dazu beitragen)."
- What is the meaning of your brand?
"It means that you feel better than just good, especially in the knowledge that this clothing has been produced sustainably. The clothes will not only make me happy today, also tomorrow. My clothes fit all individual characters. It does not matter what size or preference (Vorlieben) are given, every woman finds what suits her in my store.
I am very often in my store and I really like to advise my customers. This leads to personal conversations as well as in a certain way a relationship with my customers. We laugh a lot together and exchange much information. I really enjoy doing it."
- When did you decide to create your own clothing store?
"At the age of 36 I was firstly interested in loungewear and wanted something nice for being at home. Then I searched for the perfect piece in every store I knew but I have not found anything suitable. That was how I realized, that there is a gap in the market (Marktlücke). Then I started to do some research and went to international fairs (Messen) to get inspired and see what other vendors (Anbieter) are selling. That's how everything started.
About ten years later I noticed that customers also liked to put on my clothes for work, because it's very comfortable to wear. That's when I realized that feel-good fashion was highly demanded."
- What do you think is the difference between your store to other clothing stores? / What is your opinion in general about the clothing stores in Switzerland?
"I noticed that the small labels and boutiques are very much appreciated by the customers. After every personal consultation (persönliche Beratung) I feel great gratitude (Dankbarkeit) and appreciation. In my store I am not only selling a sustainable product. They also get a service from me, namely (nämlich) a fashion advise. This is worth much more than when they go to big stores like H&M and ZARA. The clothes there are put down (werden hingestellt) and you have to look by yourself and see what suits you. There is no service."
- Where do you produce the clothes from your store?
"I produce in Switzerand, Germany and Italy and also the material I use comes from these three countries."
Do you know how the clothes form your store are produced?
"Yes, I know all the managers of the companies, which work for me, respectively are responsible for the production of my clothes. I visit them regularly and I know exactly how they work. We work very well together. I get informed about every small detail, whether if there is a technical problem or something organizational. Either they call me or we look at it together on site (vor Ort ansehen). That's how I have control over what the process of production looks like and I can see that the workers there are enjoying good orders and are well paid for their work.
Anne Wintour from the American Vogue said 15 years ago: "There is no chance that a t-shirt has the same price as a cup of coffee. There are some people being dragged over the table (über den Tisch gezogen werden)." Everyone who works in this industry knows it. Many consumers are also aware of this but the majority does not care about it.
However, if these consumers would rethink precisely, the market could change. That's how the consumers could tell the producers, that they are not buying the goods they offer. When the goods are no longer selling, the labels would quickly notice, what makes them rethink. Therefore I think that the consumer is an important part of this chain.
For example, you can see very often large Zalando packages in the post office. These are deliveries that are transported from Northern Germany by lorry to Switzerland. The majority of Zalando consumers place a large order of which they only keep one piece in the end and send the rest back. When the delivery arrives back in Northern Germany the ordered clothes are often thrown in the garbage, because the effort of the cleaning process is too large and too expensive.
If a piece of clothing comes from the production to the Zalando central and would be shipped a few times, this would also be disproportionate due the transport.
For example, if I produce in Germany or Italy I only get one delivery per season, where my entire order is included. This means that the material was delivered to the production and afterwards the clothes to my store in Switzerland. Because of the short transports, I can easily stay behind it and support it.
These are all small but very important things, where we could make changes."
- What do you think about child labor?
"Children definitely belong in school and should get an education. They should not have to work."
- Do you think child labor is still used today?
"I'm actually pretty sure. But again I think there is the possibility for the consumer not to support the sale of these clothes."
- Do you know which means of transport are used to ship the produced clothes or the material to Switzerland?
"Yes, I work with the transport company "Fiege" or otherwise with "DHL". Fiege delivers mostly on road. But by the fact that they are short transport routes, I can support it. The DHL otherwise comes by plane, but then the delivery arrives here faster. Most transports for example the supply of materials for the production are carried out mainly by lorries."
- Is your opinion about clothes still the same you've had in the past or was your opinion completely different?
"My opinion has not changed from the beginning to the present day. I have always had the tendency to dress with good quality. I remember when I bought some expensive leather boots worth Fr. 250.00 when I was 16 years old. My grandmother almost fell off the chair when she found out. At the age of 16 I had many opportunity jobs after school, with which I have earned the money on my own. But in the end my grandmother was happy for me and said: "You'd rather have one good pair of shoes than ten bad ones."
When the big shops H&M and ZARA came on the market, I sometimes went shopping there, but that was before I had my own store. I did not shop in bulk (Masse) because as a woman your figure does not have a big change, which is very practical, because you can keep your clothes for a long time.
Since I have my own clothing store, I am no longer buying clothing in other clothing stores. The only things I still buy are shoes and accessoires."
- What do you think about green lifestyle?
"When the green lifestyle began to settle in with us, many people were not really enthusiastic about it. I personally think it needed the green people who dared the movement to the green lifestyle. They even developed into a green party (Partei) and they increased massively in the recent years.
When I go voting (abstimmen gehen), I always give the green party at least one of my votes, because we have to take care of our earth and they are committed to it."
- What would you recommend the clothing stores, which don't sell sustainable clothes, to change because of the environment?
"The most important point is of course the production. They must start producing sustainably. The amount of clothing they produce is too large and passes the consumers.
It would protect the environment if they would reduce the production that the unsold part of the clothes is kept as small as possible.
Some stores have started with the fact that you can bring already purchased clothes into the clothing stores so that they can get sold again embellished (verschönert). This would not appeal to me (mich ansprechen) personally, but it would still be a good idea. As a young woman I liked to buy secondhand but today I do not want to do that anymore.
I think they would have to produce less and raise the selling price a little bit. The consumers also needs to understand this. Today there is nothing for free anymore.
If we don't want to have to worry about our environment, we must not consume ourselves to death. We have to buy only the products we really need. The price would be higher but the quality of the clothing is better and it lasts longer."