The Bavarian Couture fashion label from two siblings from Schwabhausen has been successful for years.
Many in the district know the T-shirts or sweaters with inscriptions such as “habedehre”, “Schmusn warad means schee” or “Heit gehma moang first to bed”.
Now, ten years after it was created, everything is suddenly brand new.
Dachau
- At the top, at the summit, everything is different. The air is different, blows through the head, makes room for new things in it - new ideas, new thoughts. The siblings Laura (27) and Christoph (29) Forstner are now also up on the Alpspitze in Garmisch, happy. Because: Everything is new for them too. Ten years after they dared to develop their own company in Schwabhausen, everything is at the beginning. Your Bavaria-wide popular fashion label is getting a new name. Bavarian Couture is now called: Strawanza.
The way there was full of challenges: The beginning of the Bavarian trend brand doesn't sound like a professional plan, but it is very funny. Christoph Forstner from Schwabhausen had a very annoyed neighbor at the vocational school - luckily. Forstner always scribbled something on a pad and showed it to his neighbor. At some point he was so annoyed that the decisive sentence was a lot: "Put it on a T-shirt if you like it!" And bang. This is how the first T-shirt was created. "De mim Huat san guad" was written on it at the time. The classmates were enthusiastic, the teacher wanted one, Forstner had to reproduce and realized: “Hey, people like what I do.” At first he only sold the T-shirts through a small online shop, nothing professional. Sister laura,who was training as a media designer at the time, helped to optimize the designs. At first only incidentally - just like siblings - but soon she noticed: “This is not one of his typical crazy ideas.” Later, after completing her studies, she fully got involved - and has since “never wanted to work anywhere else”.
Suddenly there was mail from the lawyer
Initially, until 2015, the brand was still called IVXO with the addition of Bavarian Couture.
But suddenly mail came from the lawyer of a Serbian label with a similar name: cease and desist.
Stupid, because: IVXO was the siblings' logo back then.
There was still no pretzel heart - the unmistakable logo that can now be seen on all Bavarian Couture products.
During this time it became clear how crisis-proof the two can work together.
Christoph Forstner was in England for a semester abroad, Laura sent him suggestions for a new logo every ten minutes.
This is how the pretzel heart and the main name Bavarian Couture came about.
“But that was never intended as a brand name - always just as an explanation,” says Christoph Forstner.
That's why the siblings have been working for years to find a new name for their brand.
Bavarian couture should only be retained as an addition.
But it took a while until the Bavarian fashion label was to become Strawanza.
When Forstner came back almost a year later in England, people from all over Bavaria were already ordering.
Earlier shirts with slogans like “Schmusn warad now schee” or “called gehma moang first to bed” describe a lot of lust for life.
One that includes a portion of cheekiness, a desire for adventure, but also a lot of cosiness.
And suddenly one in three people at the hall festivals in the district had their shirts on.
“That was absolutely brilliant - but I was always a bit embarrassed,” says Christoph and laughs.
"I didn't want to say: Hey, that's fei vo mia."
Even today, ten years later, "I'm always really happy when I see someone with one of our shirts - but I would never go and say anything," says Laura and laughs too.
Things are now going so well that they can make a living from their company.
Sayings capture the Bavarian attitude towards life
Forstner had to listen to often enough what kind of "rubbish" the whole thing was.
But: "It pissed me off at the beginning, but then spurred me on," he explains.
Just as it encourages the siblings that there are now umpteen imitation companies that specialize in Bavarian sayings on their clothes.
The siblings develop new collections every year.
Record calendar sayings are not their thing.
It's more about capturing a certain feeling.
Christoph usually gets his ideas clichéd in the shower.
Laura “keeps her fingers crossed that it doesn't get too wild and kitschy and takes care of the designs,” explains Christoph Forstner.
Now, ten years later, the two siblings are standing up on the Alpspitze doing a photo shoot for their latest collection.
The very first Strawanza collection.
On the sweaters there are slogans such as “Gspinnad nach Gipfelglück”, “Whoever kummt kummt, kummt a nia hoam” or “girls just wanna have a fun”.
The new brand name, which took two years to prevail over many other proposals, also evokes a lot of Bavarian lifestyle. Anyone who has ever said to a friend: "Kumm, go ma strawanzen", knows: Everything is possible on an evening like this. Or nothing. The main thing is to try it.
