CEO interview
The Blutsgeschwister brand, known for its colorful prints, is revising its future strategy ahead of its 25th anniversary. In addition to the colorful core, two further segments are to be expanded and respond to the changing needs of customers.
In the interview, managing director and shareholder Stephan Künz talks about sales after the boom years of the pandemic, about the business with Preloved and why the sustainably oriented label Blutsgeschwister doesn’t want to run two lines under one brand umbrella.
How does a sustainably oriented brand like Blutsgeschwister currently experience the fashion market?
It is certainly no secret that the willingness to consume in the market has not been excessive in the last two or three years and that issues such as sustainability have sometimes taken a back seat in the market, although this is not the case for us. For us, sustainable, fair, honest and, if possible, ecological production is simply an article of faith, the DNA of the company. And we are sure that this sales argument will be more relevant for both the end customer and the trading partners in the future.
There are fan groups on the social network Facebook where women regularly exchange information about their Blutsgeschwister outfits. What role do regular customers play?
For us, loyal customers are the core of our business because as a brand we offer long-lasting products and have had a design language that is recognizable for years. This applies to our retail partners, with whom we have long-standing partnerships – often for more than ten years – as well as in the direct-to-consumer sector via our 14 own stores and via our online channel.
How would you classify your end customer?
We are currently in a strategy phase where we are thinking about exactly such topics. Today it is difficult to categorize people into four or five boxes. Maybe I get up in the morning and feel a certain way and want to wear a certain product. In the evening I might be in a different mood…
How would you describe the Blutsgeschwister brand?
We are a brand that is colorful, that lives everyday glamour. We call it soulwear, where the goods and clothing find a connection to one’s own self. I don’t wear Blutsgeschwister to exalt myself with a visible brand message, but I wear Blutsgeschwister because I feel very comfortable and shine in it.
You mentioned that you are in a strategy phase. Is it a phase of change or a phase of discovery?
The pandemic was a turning point where many companies had to look at their processes, where we all didn’t know what would happen next. After the pandemic, we entered a time characterized by a variety of challenges. We thought intensively about our product. Next year we will be on the market for 25 years. What do we want to offer in the next few years?
And what will the offer look like?
In addition to the colorful core – which we love and will remain – we are also noticing that there is increasing demand for basic items in order to elevate the individual, colorful item onto a stage and let it shine better. Retail partners and end customers also want pieces that underline other moments in their lives – more sophisticated…
Did the Schwister line, which went on sale for the first time in spring-summer 2026, arise from these thoughts?
With the Schwister line, we wanted to explore an additional facet of our brand: a premium line for women who have a modern understanding of style and consume consciously. Ultimately, we realized that we didn’t want to end up with two brand names. We manage the segments under the umbrella of the Blutsgeschwister brand.
What should the Blutsgeschwister collection look like in the future?
What changes is the sharpening of our facets. In the future, we will think of the brand in three clearly defined segments: Basic, Colorful core and Sophisticated. Colorful core remains our core, which we already play heavily. We will expand the Basic and especially Sophisticated areas significantly more in the future in order to position the brand more broadly and at the same time more precisely. This means we can do justice to our loyal customers as well as appeal to new customers who want a festive, sophisticated look.
What specifically prompted you to bring the brands back together?
We received feedback that this separation was not seen that way and that is how retailers bought it. We don’t have pure customers for siblings or blood siblings. Basically, dealers who ordered Schwister also ordered Blutsgeschwister parts and vice versa. Many pieces can be combined very well, so that there is a continuum from which customers can purchase.
How is business going at Blutsgeschwister?
We will end 2025 with sales of around 18 million euros. Despite various investments – including our company operating system, new stores in Stuttgart and Wolfsburg and our brand sharpening – our earnings this year will be in the mid-six-figure range.
How do you look forward to 2026?
We have a growth target for 2026. We ended the first half of the year with an almost double-digit increase in pre-orders. There is demand in the B2B market and we are confident that we will be able to continue our growth path in autumn/winter in 2026.
Has Blutsgeschwister managed to grow compared to pre-pandemic levels?
We managed to grow in terms of sales compared to before the pandemic, although we simply had a special boom during the pandemic. Our customers’ purchasing power was strong and our product was already very well suited to the times. Blutsgeschwister as an affordable joy in everyday life worked wonderfully during and in the years after the pandemic. But we also noticed that we had to reinvent ourselves to some extent with the collection, with the product and with the statement. We have already clearly achieved this in the product, and we are on the way in communication.
This year you not only worked on the brand, but also optimized the store network.
The long-standing store in Stuttgart has moved from a not so good location to a top location – directly opposite shops like Globetrotter and Carhatt on Tübinger Strasse. We closed our outlet in Weil am Rhein and moved it to the outlet center in Wolfsburg. In Wolfsburg we have significantly more frequency and the new location is also better connected than Weil am Rhein. We have closed the Kiel store. In Hamburg we will be moving to a top location on the Schanze next year – which should top the total sales of the two previous stores in Kiel and Hamburg.
Where is your main market?
Our main sales are clearly in Germany, followed by the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland. These are the main markets. Then we have a good business in France, where we also have three showrooms. And the Czech Republic, those are our core markets. In total, Blutsgeschwister is available at over 350 points of sale.
Blutsgeschwister has been running its own second-hand store for more than a year, which is increasingly contributing to sales.
In the digital channel, i.e. online, we now make between 5 and 8 percent of sales with preloved goods. That depends on the season. We don’t make any profit with it, but it is a strategically important and sustainable service and already covers our costs.
How does it work exactly?
We generally take back everything we sold from 2015 onwards. This is due to the system because we no longer have data from older articles in the system. So everything that can be resold in terms of quality. Every customer who goes to the Preloved area on www.blutsgeschwister.de and finds the item that she would like to return to us will see the respective purchase price there. The customer sends the goods back to us and as soon as the goods arrive at our warehouse, a voucher is issued directly and immediately. In this way, we extend the life cycle of our products and conserve resources.
Is the secondhand program set up in such detail that you can track how you extend the life of products?
This was a big project into which we put a lot of time, energy, strength and love, but it was a strategic development for us. Ideally, we would like to have a part not once in circulation, but rather at least 1.1 times as a goal. That means we would like to resell every tenth item and at the moment we are well on the way to doing so.
And how do you measure whether you have already achieved 1.1 times?
By knowing how many parts we sell as preloved and how many parts we originally sold as new, we can track this very well.
The Blutsgeschwister brand has achieved “Leader” status in Fair Wear for years, demonstrating a strong commitment to social responsibility in the supply chain. What milestones would you like to achieve in the future?
Living wages will remain an important focus of our sustainability work in the coming years. For us, they form the basis of a truly fair and inclusive supply chain.
At the same time, we are continuously working to further expand transparency throughout our entire value chain, because we can only create effective, long-term improvements on a clearly comprehensible basis.
Our production facilities are regularly checked by independent social audits. We analyze the insights gained there together with our partner companies and develop concrete measures to resolve them in a targeted and sustainable manner. On this basis, we also develop training courses and workshops for both workers and management so that improvements have a long-term impact.
