st. Gallen luxury brand can also be cheap: Akris sews for Tchibo and H&M

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Karl Lagerfeld (1933-2019) said: “Whoever wears sweatpants has lost control of his life.” Wolfgang Joop (78) believes that fashion “only becomes a work of art with a big ass”.

Such sentences cannot be heard from the St. Gallen fashion czar Albert Kriemler (63). He comes across as a reserved and prudent person. From time to time you can see him in the opera. Other than that, little is known about the man, whose designs can be found for $150 to $9,000 at New York luxury mall Bergdorf Goodman.

Exhibition “Acrys. Fashion. Of course”. The exhibition offers one thing above all: Akris PR. The exhibition was jam-packed and it showed once again: Switzerland loves Akris, the only luxury Swiss brand that can make a big impact in Paris.

However, the exhibition skips a part: Most of Akris’s employees have been in Romania for a long time. From there, Akris products fly all over the world without touching Swiss soil. In online stores this means “Made in Romania” and also means “Managed directly by Akris Switzerland”.

Business is declining in China

Romanian Akris subsidiary Artifex also manufactures for Akris, the cheaper Akris Punto line, and, as Sunday’s Blick research shows, cheap brands like H&M and Tchibo. In 2010, Albert Kriemler turned down a collaboration with H&M. But if you look at H&M’s online store, you’ll see a linen blazer for 199 francs, and Tchibo offers trousers for 69 francs with a small print that says “Sewn by Artifex, Romania.”

CEO of Akris empire and St. According to Peter Kriemler (60), brother of the St. Gallen fashion czar, St. Gallen fashion house has been operating in Romania since 2005. “Akris struggles to stabilize order fluctuations throughout the year. That’s why we work with different companies to take full advantage of it.» Tchibo scheme has to do with the corona epidemic Romania has developed strongly since joining the EU in 2004. The minimum monthly wage was 55 francs at the time, today it is 450 francs. Gone are the days when Akris paid extremely low salaries in Romania: “Our tailors are paid just under 1,000 francs. We pay good wages, we are a safe employer and we have a good corporate culture.” Akris also produced with Italian contractors until 2015. Kriemler: «We have not had good experiences with outsourcing. Everything is in one hand again since 2015. A lot is happening in other regions too: On August 2, the first in Switzerland Akris store will open in Storchengasse in Zurich, not far from Bahnhofstrasse.

But business in China is causing problems: “We had to close two of our stores in Shanghai because they were out of business,” says Kriemler. “We don’t know why Japan and South Korea are working, but China is not.”

Mongolian horsehair, German made, Swiss brand

Besides Eastern Switzerland, Mendrisio TI and Romania, Akris also has a small production facility in Germany. Luxury handbags are made from Mongolian horsehair in Obertshausen, near Frankfurt am Main. Years ago, Akris acquired the sick manufacturer Comtesse, who once even supplied the Empress of Japan. “As a company, we are too small to successfully lead a second brand,” says Peter Kriemler. In 2019, Kriemlers sold Comtesse, which soon filed for bankruptcy.

The fashion industry is considered a difficult business and family and career harmony is a difficult issue for employees. Akris adorns herself with strong women from the outside. But a former employee told SonntagsBlick that she had to leave after the birth of her child: “I couldn’t work as a part-time manager.” Peter Kriemler: “We couldn’t agree on the demand for part-time work after the birth of the child. The business relationship has been terminated by mutual agreement.”

But times have changed. According to Kriemler, the shortage of skilled workers is making itself felt. st. Gallen or Romania doesn’t matter. But he is sure of the future.

How much the Kriemlers actually make from fashion and how much St. How much he earned from the Gallen real estate empire already remains a family secret. It has prestigious buildings such as the old Globus building in Multergasse, the old UBS building in Multertor and the Einstein Convention Center. The “balance sheet” estimates the Kriemler’s assets at 200 to 250 million francs.

As a family business, the company does not disclose any figures. Peter Kriemler prefers to speak enthusiastically about the Zurich exhibition. Princess Charlene of Monaco (45) can be seen in a video there. What deal does he have with his most famous influencer? “No deal,” says Peter Kriemler. “Before she married the Prince of Monaco, Charlène was already taking care of Akris. You like what we do.”

Source :Blick