When the bear walks over the sweater: Freisinger founds an ecological fashion label for the cathedral city

Created: 08/14/2022, 05:00 p.m

By: Manuel Eser

Founder Immanuel Schumm (right) has developed an ecological fashion label for Freising.

He is supported by friends, including (from left) Sandra and Markus te Heesen, Mariana Pedraza and Susanne Oberloher.

© Lehmann

He combines his love for his hometown of Freising with sustainable clothing: Immanuel Schumm (28) founded a fashion label that is firmly rooted in the cathedral city.

Freising

– The Freisinger Bär walking on the city silhouette.

The silhouette of Lehrberg and Nahrungsmittelberg with the inscription "Dahoam".

The town hall tower tilted diagonally to the right.

A stylized city map in rust red with the abstract Isar line in the centre.

These are just a few of the motifs created by Immanuel Schumm, which can be found on trousers and T-shirts, sweaters and jackets, caps and bags.

In order to be able to produce them, the Freisinger founded the start-up EST.724 in spring 2021.

And the name of the company also refers to Schumm's connection to his hometown.

Because 724 was the year of Saint Corbinian, the founding patron of Freising.

The abbreviation EST.

The 28-year-old reports that “established” is used extensively in the fashion industry in particular.

“The year given there usually refers to the founding year of the fashion brand.

In our case, the brand name EST.724 is a play on words that alludes to the founding of the city of Freising.”

The idea

Schumm was already toying with the idea of ​​developing a regional, ecological fashion label for Freising while he was studying business psychology.

"I was inspired by other home-related fashion brands that already exist for Bavaria and Munich," he says.

He thought the basic idea was great, but many of the designs were too striking.

“I wouldn't have wanted to wear such a product myself.

This gave rise to the idea of ​​creating home-related designs in a subtle, simple and stylized form.” Whenever an idea occurred to him, Schumm put his study books aside and sat down at his desk to work out the motifs he had in mind to hold paper.

After submitting his master's thesis in the 2020/21 winter semester, he gave himself the decisive push: "I wanted to make the dream of sustainable fashion for Freising come true, but I kept the project to myself for a long time," he reports.

On his own, he researched product partners, distribution chains, logistics processing, legal framework conditions and much more.

"Only gradually, when the basic concept was already in place, did I successively let friends and family in on my project."

The accomplices

He calls his team his “friends from Freising”, whom he met through a wide variety of connections.

“For some it was school, for others it was family, for others it was friends of friends who became friends of their own.

I would say it was very typical how you get to know each other in a family town like Freising.”

The tasks at EST.724 are distributed colorfully.

"Everyone involved in this project shows this through their own special know-how and commitment," says Schumm.

Friends and family help with ideas, marketing on Instagram or returns.

He particularly emphasizes the "outstanding achievements" of Markus te Heesen, owner of the MGTH studios in Moosburg, who supports him as a professional photographer and videographer.

He also emphasizes Jenny Fretz's "first-class expertise".

The professional stylist and make-up artist takes care of the right look for photo and video sessions.

Schumm himself processes the orders, takes care of customer contact, all administrative tasks - and continues to draw new designs.

Fascination for Freising

What makes the cathedral city a great source of inspiration for the 28-year-old?

"The many dualities," says Schumm.

“Freising is small and big at the same time.

Big enough to meet new people anywhere.

Small enough to retain a familiar charm.” In addition, Freising is very old and at the same time ultra-modern.

"If you are in Weihenstephan, the surroundings are characterized by modern architecture made of glass, steel, concrete and modern wooden buildings." If you stand on the Domberg, you are in a baroque world.

"Freising is Bavarian sophisticated and at the same time alternative."

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The good deed

In addition to his love of home, Schumm is also motivated by the desire to do good with his work.

"A positive ecological footprint is one of the strongest drivers for us," he says.

"On the one hand, we want to provide our customers with all products at a fair price, but on the other hand we want to offer the best possible in the areas of sustainability, production and quality."

All products are therefore only manufactured after receipt of an order in order to prevent overproduction.

Only organic materials are used: mainly organic cotton, which EST.724 obtains from sustainably managed plantations.

"We have carefully selected our cooperation and supplier companies." The textiles are produced under strict conditions and controls in various Asian countries under safe and humane working conditions with fair wage payments.

"Each step in the production chain is monitored for compliance with corporate social responsibility."

The textiles are printed in Germany with water-saving DTG printing machines using renewable energies.

Degradable NeoPigment ink, which is free of toxins and animal ingredients, is used for the motifs.

The goods reach the customer via climate-neutral shipping in plastic-free packaging.

The challenge

For the realization of EST.724, Schumm repeatedly entered completely new territory.

This takes courage, or as the founder puts it: "The biggest challenge is constantly overcoming your own shyness."

As an example, he cites the so-called "warning parasites" - law firms that search the Internet for errors in legal texts and then sue the relevant operators.

“To be armed against something like this, watertight legal texts such as imprint, terms and conditions or data protection declaration are indispensable.

But how should we approach this if we are not lawyers ourselves and the budget is tight?

Having your own lawyers is expensive, writing it yourself would be too risky, and copying the texts from other websites is illegal.” Thanks to thorough research, the team finally found suitable legal partners.

(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)

With many tasks it is also difficult to estimate the effort involved.

“When it came to setting up our online shop, I found an excellent video tutorial online that lasted about 60 minutes.

At the time I thought to myself: An hour?

That means I get up early, make myself a coffee and work all day to finish the framework of the online shop in the evening,” he says.

Then he adds, laughing.

"Well, it took two whole months to finish the shop."

He advises other start-up newbies: “When a problem feels like a jinx and just doesn't want to show a solution, driving yourself crazy is not an option.

It's better to sleep on it for the night and tackle the matter calmly the next day.” Somehow, a solution can always be found for everything.

"It is crucial for every founder to master the balance between goal focus and uncompromising on the one hand and flexibility, spontaneity and openness to new perspectives on the other."

The future

So far, the goods have only been sold through their own online store.

However, Schumm's goal is to enter into partnerships with regional retailers so that individual products can also be offered in stores.

If possible this year.

The shopkeepers addressed were also impressed, says Schumm.

Lots of heart

The problem: "We set up our project in such a way that we want to offer high-quality clothing at a fair price." The profit margin that remains at the end is far lower than with a conventional fashion label.

And the profit margin that retailers normally need to make such a deal worthwhile given all the fixed costs is higher than Est.724's total margin.

Nevertheless, we try to find a solution together, says Schumm.

"That's only possible because we all, including the great shopkeepers in the city of Freising, put a lot of heart and soul into it."

You can find more current news from the district of Freising at Merkur.de/Freising.