The Lower Saxony Nordhorn, close to the Dutch border, received the nickname “Klein America” in the 1930s, since the economic upswing moved potential emigrants to the town on the Vechte. Two decades later – from the 1950s to 1980s – three textile companies of international importance gave around 12,000 people jobs – Rawe, Povel and Nino.
The latter was outfitter of the German national soccer team, who also dressed the players away from the field – in bright suits with light coats. “Because of the heat in Mexico”, football legend Uwe Seeler recalls the World Cup in 1970, in which Germany took third place. “And that also had quality, that was absolutely top,” said Seeler about Nino’s equipment.
Fashion designer Wolfgang Joop once drew for Nino and Karl Lagerfeld left his traces in Nordhorn, as did British actress Diana Rigg and photographer Helmut Newton.
Nino, Rawe and Powel employed 12,000 people
With almost 6,000 employees, Nino was one of the three largest textile companies in West Germany at peak times; Fabric manufacturers Rawe, whose products for work clothes, underwear, pages, nightgowns and aprons were used, around 2,600 people and Povel weaving at peak times.
The recession of the 1960s also made life difficult for textile companies and in the 1980s the internationalization did not stop at the Lower Saxony city: the clothing production emigrated to Asia and Africa, where textiles could be made cheaper.
However, Nordhorn’s own small economic miracle – factory ruins were renovated and other production and service companies settled.
The former Nino spinning mill, which is now under monument protection, was extensively renovated in 2009 and converted into a “competence center of business”. The city museum shows the exhibition on the textile culture and fashion history of Nordhorn on an area of 1,200 square meters. A new district was created from the Povel factory site in the city center, the Wasserstadt Povel and parts of the Rawe area are now accommodating a shopping center and a hardware store.
In an NDR documentary from the “Our History” series, celebrities, celebrities, merchants and the star photographer: inside the large fashion leaves of the heyday. Historical film and photo recordings ensure that the audience can be put back in this time, which was an important one for the German textile and clothing industry.
The contribution “Mode makes Nordhorn” in the “Our History” series is available in the ARD Mediathek.